After death penalty, Sheikh Hasina sentenced to 21 years in jail for corruption

A Bangladesh court on Thursday handed down 21-year imprisonment to former prime minister Sheikh Hasina over corruption.

The conviction came just a week after she was given death sentence for crimes against humanity.

Hasina, 78, has been staying in India since fleeing Bangladesh last August and has ignored repeated court orders to return. On November 17, she was convicted in absentia and ordered to be hanged for allegedly authorising a brutal operation against a student-driven protest movement last year, which ultimately forced her from office.

The latest ruling pertains to three cases filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission over the alleged illegal acquisition of valuable government plots on the outskirts of Dhaka.

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Judge Abdullah Al Mamun said Hasina’s actions “show a pattern of corruption” and found her guilty of treating state assets as personal property. He wrote that she had “turned her eye toward public land” and used official channels to benefit herself and close family members.

Her two children — Sajeeb Wazed, who lives in the United States, and Saima Wazed, a senior UN figure — each received five-year sentences in the same cases.

Hasina left the country on August 5, 2024, after weeks of demonstrations calling for the end of what protesters described as her authoritarian rule.

Prosecutor Khan Moinul Hasan said he plans to challenge the decision, noting, “We are not satisfied, as we had asked for the maximum penalty.” He added that the Anti-Corruption Commission will determine the next steps.