Bangladesh court jails Hasina, relatives for property deals corruption
Ousted Bangladeshi leader Sheikh Hasina and members of her family have been handed jail terms for corrupt property deals. Hasina, in exile in India, is already under death sentence. Tulip Siddiq, her niece, resigned her post in the British government after news of the case broke.
Dhaka (AFP/dpa) – A Bangladesh court sentenced Sheikh Rehana, sister of former premier Sheikh Hasina, to seven years in prison on Monday for corruption in a case involving the grabbing of lucrative plots in the capital.
Rehana's daughter Tulip Siddiq, who is a British lawmaker, was handed a two-year sentence in the same case, said Khan Mainul Hasan, prosecutor for the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
Hasina, who was given the death penalty for crimes against humanity last month, and 14 other government officials were condemned to five years of imprisonment.
Tried in absentia
The 78-year-old former premier has sought refuge in India since her ouster in August last year following a student-led uprising, but Rehana's whereabouts remain unknown.
Siddiq, who resigned as British anti-corruption minister in January after being named in graft probes in Bangladesh, called the trial "flawed and farcical from the beginning to the end".
Hasan said the commission had details of Siddiq's correspondence with Salahuddin Ahmed, the principal secretary to the then prime minister, exposing her role in the case.
"Tulip insisted that her aunt Sheikh Hasina allocate plots for her mother and siblings, as she herself took three - one for her and two for her children," Hasan said.
"She called him (Ahmed), communicated via some encrypted apps, and even met him while she was in Dhaka."
Judge Rabiul Alam quoted verses from the Quran as he read out the judgement.
Judge says court has right to try Bangladeshis abroad
"The court has full authority to try any Bangladeshi, whether the person is in the country or abroad," he said.
Hasina decried the latest verdict in a statement to AFP on Monday.
"No country is free from corruption. But corruption needs to be investigated in a way that is not itself corrupt. The ACC has failed that test today," she said.
The interim government in Bangladesh would formally notify British authorities about Siddiq's verdict, prosecutors said.
Siddiq, 43, said she refused to be "distracted by the dirty politics of Bangladesh".
"The outcome of this kangaroo court is as predictable as it is unjustified," she said in a statement.
"I hope this so-called 'verdict' will be treated with the contempt it deserves."
Bangladesh has been in political turmoil since the end of Hasina's rule, and violence has marred campaigning for elections slated for February 2026.
The United Nations says up to 1,400 people were killed in crackdowns as Hasina tried to cling to power.
The ACC accuses Siddiq of having used her position as a British member of parliament to influence her aunt to obtain plots in the Purbachal New Town Project near Dhaka.
Three 669-square-metre plots were allocated to her mother, her sister, Azmina Siddiq, and her brother, Radwan Mujib, according to the ACC.
Tulip Siddiq resigns from British government
Tulip Siddiq, who has denied the allegations against her, resigned as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's anti-corruption minister in January amid a row over links to her aunt's government widely reported by British media.
Lawyer Hasan said Monday's verdict fell short of his expectations, as he had sought a life sentence for Siddiq. He added that the ACC would seek Interpol's assistance to repatriate her.
Last week, a separate court sentenced Hasina to 21 years in jail in three graft cases related to land allocations in the same project.