Awami League calls Hasina sentencing ‘entirely predictable’, blames Yunus govt

Awami League rejects Hasina conviction

The Awami League on Monday strongly rejected a Dhaka court verdict sentencing former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her family members in a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), calling the judgment “entirely predictable.”

The court sentenced Hasina to five years in prison over alleged irregularities linked to the Purbachal New Town land allocation project. Her sister, Sheikh Rehana, was handed a seven-year term, while her niece, British MP Tulip Siddiq, received a two-year sentence.

Blaming the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government, the party alleged that the ruling reflects how the ACC has been “weaponised” for political purposes by “desperate, unelected men.”

In a statement, the Awami League argued that the trial lacked fairness. "No persuasive evidence of corruption was heard at the ACC, because none exists. Defendants did not have proper legal representation at the ACC and were judged in absentia. The process fails to pass any reasonable test of judicial fairness, a point that has been made forcefully by both local and international legal experts," it said.

The party further accused Yunus of pursuing a personal vendetta against Hasina and damaging Bangladesh’s international standing. "No country is free from corruption. But corruption needs to be investigated in a way that is not itself corrupt. The ACC has failed that test today… It has exclusively targeted members of the Awami League… and done nothing to prosecute or even investigate the cronyism that has escalated in Bangladesh since Muhammad Yunus and his so-called interim government took power," it quoted Hasina as saying.

Hasina also alleged that the interim leadership is attempting to suppress her party. "He recently banned the Awami League from taking part in next year's elections - thus disenfranchising millions of voters and undermining our troubled country's chances of achieving a genuine political reconciliation," she added.

She warned that the verdict only benefits "Yunus and his ragtag coalition of extremists and opportunists" and risks harming relationships with key international partners.