DHAKA, BANGLADESH – A special court in the Bangladeshi capital on Monday sentenced former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to five years in prison and her niece, British Labour Party lawmaker Tulip Siddiq, to two years in a corruption case tied to the alleged misuse of a government land project. The court ruled that Hasina abused her authority while in office, while Siddiq was found guilty of improperly influencing her aunt to secure a valuable land allocation for her mother and two siblings. Siddiq’s mother, Sheikh Rehana, was described by the court as the central figure in the scheme and received a seven-year prison sentence. In addition to the prison terms, all three were fined the equivalent of about $813 each, and the land plot awarded through the project was formally canceled. Fourteen additional defendants remain implicated in the broader case.
Prosecutors said they had originally pushed for life sentences for the main defendants, but fell short of that outcome. They indicated they would now consult internally to determine their next legal steps. Within hours of the verdict, Hasina’s political party issued a public statement rejecting the ruling as politically motivated, arguing the anti-corruption process was being used as a weapon against her and her family. The statement asserted that the entire case failed to meet basic standards of judicial fairness and claimed that both domestic and international legal experts had raised serious concerns about the proceedings. Authorities stated that Siddiq was tried as a Bangladeshi citizen and that documentation such as a passport, national identity card, and tax number had been obtained. Siddiq has strongly disputed this, maintaining that she is solely a British citizen and has no legal standing as a Bangladeshi national.
Siddiq, who represents a London parliamentary district, has consistently denied all allegations, previously calling the case a political fabrication driven by vendetta rather than evidence. Earlier this year, she stepped down from her ministerial role in the British government amid mounting political pressure over her family ties to Hasina. While she said she had been cleared of wrongdoing in the United Kingdom, she explained that her continued presence in office risked becoming a distraction for the government. Following Monday’s verdict, Bangladeshi prosecutors said they would contact British authorities through the country’s foreign affairs ministry regarding the conviction and potential next steps.
Hasina, who is currently living in exile in India, was previously sentenced to death in November for crimes against humanity linked to the violent crackdown on the mass uprising that ended her 15-year rule. All of her trials so far have been conducted in absentia. None of the defendants in Monday’s case appointed legal counsel to represent them in court. Rehana remains outside Bangladesh, and Siddiq’s siblings are also abroad while facing separate charges connected to last year’s unrest. In related cases tied to the same township land project, another court recently sentenced Hasina to 21 years in prison, while her son and daughter each received five-year sentences. The country is now under the control of an interim government led by a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, which has announced that the next parliamentary election is scheduled for February.