Dhaka Court Convicts Former PM Sheikh Hasina and UK MP Tulip Siddiq in Land Corruption Case

Dhaka’s Special Judge’s Court sentenced former prime minister Sheikh Hasina to five years and UK MP Tulip Siddiq to two years after finding them guilty in a corruption case over a government land project. Siddiq’s mother, Sheikh Rehana, was given seven years and all three were fined $813; Rehana’s allotted plot was cancelled. Prosecutors had sought life sentences and say Siddiq was tried as a Bangladeshi national — a claim she contests. Hasina remains in exile and has faced multiple other convictions.

05:04 PM, 12/01/2025Politics

Dhaka Court Convicts Former PM Sheikh Hasina and UK MP Tulip Siddiq in Land Corruption Case

A Dhaka court has sentenced former prime minister Sheikh Hasina to five years in prison and British Labour MP Tulip Siddiq to two years after finding them guilty in a corruption case tied to a government land development project.

Judge Rabiul Alam of the Special Judge’s Court said Hasina abused the powers of her office. The court found Siddiq guilty of improperly influencing her aunt to secure a government-allotted plot for Siddiq’s mother and two siblings. Siddiq’s mother, Sheikh Rehana, was identified as the principal actor in the scheme and received a seven-year prison sentence.

The judge also imposed a fine of $813 on each of the three convicted women and ordered cancellation of the land plot previously granted to Rehana. Authorities said 14 additional suspects remain connected to the case.

“We expected life sentences, (but) that did not happen. We will consult with the commission for our next course of action,”

said Khan Mohammed Mainul Hasan, prosecutor for the anticorruption watchdog, who added that prosecutors had sought life terms for the principal defendants.

The prosecution has said Siddiq was tried as a Bangladeshi national, asserting officials obtained a Bangladeshi passport, national identity card and tax number in her name. Siddiq has disputed those claims, saying she is a British citizen. She represents Hampstead and Highgate in the UK Parliament and previously denied the charges, calling the proceedings a sham driven by a political vendetta.

In January, Siddiq resigned from her role as economic secretary to the Treasury in Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s cabinet, saying the controversy had become a distraction despite her stating she had been cleared of wrongdoing.

Hasina, who lives in exile in India, has faced several other convictions in separate trials held in absentia. In November she was sentenced to death in a different case involving alleged crimes against humanity tied to the crackdown on last year’s uprising. In a related proceeding connected to the same township project, another court on Nov. 27 sentenced Hasina to 21 years in prison and handed five-year terms to her son and daughter.

The defendants in Monday’s hearing declined to appoint defence lawyers. Rehana and two of Siddiq’s siblings remain outside Bangladesh as they face separate charges linked to last year’s unrest.

Bangladesh is currently governed by an interim administration led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, who has announced that the next parliamentary election will be held in February.