A court in Bangladesh has sentenced the country’s ousted prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, to 21 years in prison on corruption charges, deepening the former leader’s legal troubles just a week after she was handed the death penalty for crimes against humanity.
Hasina, 78, remains in India, where she has been living since fleeing Bangladesh by helicopter on 5 August 2024 amid weeks of student-led protests that forced her from office. She has repeatedly ignored court orders demanding her return.
Thursday’s ruling, delivered in Dhaka, concerns three cases filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) over the alleged illegal acquisition of lucrative land plots in a suburb of the capital.
Judge Abdullah Al Mamun said Hasina’s actions “demonstrate a persistent corruption mindset rooted in entitlement, unchecked power, and a greedy eye for public property.”
“Treating public land as a private asset, she directed her greedy eye toward state resources and manipulated official procedures to benefit herself and her close relatives,” the court found.
The verdict also imposed five-year prison terms on Hasina’s son, Sajeeb Wazed, and her daughter, Saima Wazed, a senior United Nations official. All three were tried in absentia.
Hasina was already sentenced on 17 November to death by hanging for crimes against humanity linked to a violent crackdown on last year’s student uprising, during which the United Nations estimates that up to 1,400 people were killed as she sought to maintain her grip on power. She has dismissed all charges as “biased and politically motivated.”
Public prosecutor Khan Moinul Hasan said he would appeal Thursday’s corruption verdict, arguing that prosecutors had sought “maximum punishment.” The ACC would now determine the next legal steps, he added.
Bangladesh has been gripped by political turbulence since Hasina’s fall, with violence overshadowing preparations for elections scheduled for February 2026.
The former prime minister continues to face additional corruption prosecutions alongside her sister, Sheikh Rehana, and her children, including British MP Tulip Siddiq.
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