Hasina gets 5-year jail in land scam case

A Bangladesh court on Monday convicted and sentenced deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to five years of imprisonment and her niece, British parliamentarian Tulip Siddiq, to a two-year jail term in a land scam case.

Judge Md Rabiul Alam of the Special Judge's Court-4 of Dhaka also handed down a seven-year jail term to Hasina's sister, Sheikh Rehana, in the corruption case lodged against 17 persons.

The court handed down the verdict in a packed courtroom in the absence of the three accused.

The 14 other accused are former government officials who were handed down a five-year prison term each, but only one of them was in jail and faced the trial in person.

The court also imposed a fine of Tk 1 lakh each on all 17 convicts, including Hasina, Rehana, and Siddiq, failing which they will have to serve an additional six months in jail.

Siddiq, a British-Bangladeshi Labour Party politician, is Rehana's daughter and has been the Member of Parliament for Hampstead and Highgate since 2015.

In a statement in London, Siddiq, 43, condemned the sentencing as "unjustified" and said she refused to be "distracted by the dirty politics of Bangladesh".

"The outcome of this kangaroo court is as predictable as it is unjustified. I hope this so-called 'verdict' will be treated with the contempt it deserves," she said.

The interim government in April issued an arrest warrant for Siddiq as part of investigations into corruption during Hasina's premiership.

She was found guilty of influencing her aunt, Hasina, to secure a plot of land for her mother, brother and sister, on the outskirts of Dhaka, a charge she strongly denies.