A court in Bangladesh on Monday sentenced former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to 10 years in jail and her niece Tulip Siddiq, who is a British lawmaker, to four years in prison in two cases involving a government township project near the capital. Judge Mohammed Rabiul Alam of the Special Judge´s Court-4 also handed down seven-year prison sentences to another niece, Azmina Siddiq, and a nephew, Radwan Mujib Siddiq.
The country´s official corruption watchdog filed the cases alleging that Hasina colluded with government officials to illegally secure six plots in the Purbachal New Town Project, near Dhaka, for herself and her family members despite their ineligibility under government regulations.
The verdicts came as the interim government, headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, prepares for Feb. 12 elections. Hasina´s former ruling Awami League party has been banned from taking part.
Both Hasina and Tulip Siddiq were sentenced earlier in similar cases and have denounced the verdict. Siddiq said she obtained no land from the government during her aunt´s 15-year rule as she is not a Bangladeshi citizen. But the prosecution said she influenced her aunt to provide her mother and two siblings with land in the project, an allegation she rejected outright.
Hasina was previously convicted in four other cases over corruption in the project as she faced charges of misusing power. In those cases, the court sentenced her to a total of 26 years in prison, while her son, Sajeeb Wazed, and daughter, Saima Wazed, received five years each. Hasina´s younger sister, Sheikh Rehana, was sentenced to seven years. All of them are currently abroad. Tulip Siddiq lives in the UK.