Bangladesh court gives exiled leader Hasina 21-year jail term in 1st corruption case

This marks the first corruption verdict against Hasina since she fled to India on Aug. 5 following a mass uprising against her government.

Judge Mohammad Abdullah Al Mamun of Dhaka’s Special Judge Court handed Hasina seven years’ imprisonment in each of the three cases. According to court documents, the cases concern the allocation of plots by RAJUK, the Dhaka city development authority.

Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy and daughter Saima Wazed Putul were each sentenced to five years in prison in absentia.

On Nov. 17 this year, the Dhaka-based International Crimes Tribunal sentenced Hasina and former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal to death in a case involving crimes against humanity during what prosecutors described as a brutal crackdown on a student-led movement. A UN report cited in the proceedings said about 1,400 people were killed and 20,000 injured in the uprising.

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the plot-allocation cases in January, alleging that Hasina unlawfully obtained government land through RAJUK by using her authority as prime minister. The ACC charge sheet said the move violated RAJUK housing rules, which prohibit individuals who already own land in Dhaka from receiving additional plots in state-run projects.

Despite court summons, arrest warrants, and newspaper notices, the accused did not appear for the hearings.

The ACC filed six separate cases over plot allocations against 23 people, including Hasina; her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy; her daughter Saima Wazed Putul; her sister Sheikh Rehana; Rehana’s daughter, British member of parliament Tulip Siddiq; Rehana’s son Radwan Mujib Siddiq; daughter Azmina Siddiq; and several others.

On Tuesday, the National Board of Revenue recovered 832 bhori (9,707.16 grams) of gold ornaments from two vaults registered to Hasina at a state-owned bank in connection with an ongoing tax-evasion investigation, officials said.