Bangladesh court convicts ex-PM Sheikh Hasina and UK lawmaker niece Tulip Siddiq in land scam case

Sheikh Hasina jailed for five years in Dhaka land graft case

A court in Bangladesh’s capital on Monday sentenced ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to five years in prison and her niece, British Labour Party lawmaker Tulip Siddiq, to two years in prison for corruption involving a government land project.

Rabiul Alam, the judge of Dhaka’s Special Judge’s Court, said Hasina misused her power as prime minister while Siddiq was guilty of corruptly influencing her aunt in helping her mother get a piece of land in a government project. Siddiq’s mother, Sheikh Rehana, was given seven years in prison and was considered the prime participant in the case.

It involved the Purbachal New Town project in a suburb of Dhaka.

Siddiq, who serves in the British Parliament for Hampstead and Highgate in London, had denied the allegations.

Hasina has been in exile in India since she was ousted by a mass uprising last year. The trial and others against her were conducted in absentia.