A Dhaka court on Monday convicted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and 16 others in a land corruption case, sentencing Hasina to five years in prison. Judge Md Rabiul Alam of Special Judge’s Court-4 handed a two-year sentence to Hasina’s niece, British MP Tulip Siddiq, and a seven-year term to Hasina’s sister, Sheikh Rehana. The case involved 17 accused in total; the other 14 mostly former government officials each received five-year prison terms.
The verdict was read in a crowded courtroom in the absence of Hasina, Rehana and Siddiq. Only one of the 14 additional defendants was in custody and appeared in court in person. The court also imposed a fine of Tk 100,000 on each of the 17 convicts, with an extra six months’ jail to be served if fines are not paid.
Siddiq, the British-Bangladeshi Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate since 2015, reacted from London, calling the ruling “unjustified” and labeling the proceedings a “kangaroo court.” In a statement she said she would not be “distracted by the dirty politics of Bangladesh” and urged that the verdict be treated with contempt. Authorities accuse Siddiq of influencing Hasina to obtain a plot of land on Dhaka’s outskirts for Siddiq’s mother, brother and sister — an allegation Siddiq denies.
In April, the interim government issued an arrest warrant for Siddiq amid wider probes into alleged corruption during Hasina’s time in office. The convictions mark a significant development in those investigations and are likely to have political and diplomatic repercussions given Siddiq’s role as a UK Member of Parliament.
