Shiekh Hasina's Sister, Her Niece Sentenced by Bangladesh Court in Land Grab Scam

Asianet News English

A Dhaka court sentenced Sheikh Rehana, sister of ousted PM Sheikh Hasina, to 7 years in prison for corruption over illegal land grabs in Dhaka's Purbachal project, while her daughter Tulip Siddiq, a British Labour MP, got 2 years for pressuring allocations via encrypted chats and meetings. Hasina, already facing death penalty for protest crackdowns, received 5 years alongside 14 officials; all fined $813 with plot cancellations ordered. Siddiq calls it a ‘farce’ and ‘persecution,’ as Bangladesh notifies UK amid Hasina's exile in India and interim govt push for her extradition.&nbsp;

Transcript

00:00A Bangladesh court sentenced Sheikh Rahana, sister of former Premier Sheikh Hasina, to

00:06seven years in prison Monday for corruption, in a case involving the grabbing of lucrative

00:11plots in the capital.

00:13Rahana's daughter Tulip Sadiq, who is a British lawmaker, was handed a two-year sentence in

00:18the same case, said Khan Mainul Hassan, prosecutor for the Anti-Corruption Commission.

00:24Hasina, who was given the death penalty for crimes against humanity last month, and 14

00:29other government officials were condemned to five years of imprisonment.

00:33The 78-year-old former Premier has sought refuge in India since her ouster last year following

00:38a student-led uprising, but Rahana's whereabouts remain unknown.

00:43Sadiq, who resigned as British Anti-Corruption Minister in January after being named in graft

00:48probes in Bangladesh, has called the trial a persecution and a farce.

00:53Hassan said they had details of Sadiq's correspondence with Salahuddin Ahmed,

00:58the principal secretary to the then Prime Minister, exposing her role in the case.

01:04Hassan said, Tulip insisted that her aunt Sheikh Hasina allocate plots for her mother and siblings,

01:11as she herself took three, one for her and two for her children.

01:15He added, she called Ahmed, communicated via some encrypted apps,

01:19and even met him while she was in Dhaka.

01:23Judge Rabiul Alam quoted verses from the Quran as he read out the judgment.

01:28He observed,

01:29The court has full authority to try any Bangladeshi, whether the person is in the country or abroad.

01:35Hassan decried the latest verdict in a statement mailed to AFP on Monday.

01:39She said,

01:40No country is free from corruption, but corruption needs to be investigated in a way that is not itself corrupt.

01:47The ACC has failed that test today.

01:50Prosecutors said that the interim government would notify the British authorities about Monday's verdict.

01:55There was no immediate reaction from Sadiq.

01:58However, in a recent interview with the Guardian newspaper, Sadiq said she was collateral damage

02:05in the feud between interim leader Muhammad Yunus and her aunt.

02:09Bangladesh has been in political turmoil since the end of Hasina's rule,

02:13and violence has marred campaigning for elections slated for February 2026.

02:19The United Nations says up to 1,400 people were killed in crackdowns as Hasina tried to cling to power.

02:26A commission set up to investigate a violent mutiny that saw dozens of senior army officers

02:31massacred 16 years ago on Sunday said former Premier Sheikh Hasina had ordered the killings.

02:38After Hasina was ousted last year following a student-led uprising,

02:42the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus formed a commission to investigate the incident.

02:48According to the commission's report submitted on Sunday,

02:50the then Awami League government led by Hasina was directly involved in the mutiny.

02:56Yunus welcomed the commission's report, saying the nation had long remained in the dark

03:00about the reasons behind the 2009 killings.

03:04A previous investigation into the mutiny blamed years of pent-up anger among soldiers,

03:09who felt their appeals for pay rises and better treatment were ignored.

03:13But that probe was carried out during Hasina's tenure,

03:16and her opponents claimed her involvement in a conspiracy to orchestrate the mutiny,

03:20in order to weaken the military and bolster her own power.

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