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A court in Bangladesh has sentenced ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina to 21 years in prison for corruption, just one week after she received the death penalty for crimes against humanity.
Hasina, aged 78, is currently living in India and has ignored court orders to return to Bangladesh. On 17 November, the court sentenced her in absentia to death for allegedly ordering a violent crackdown on last year’s student-led uprising, which eventually removed her from power.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) also brought three separate cases against her involving the alleged seizure of valuable land plots in a suburb of Dhaka.
Judge Abdullah Al Mamun said Hasina’s actions showed “a persistent corruption mindset rooted in entitlement, unchecked power, and a greedy eye for public property”. He added that she had treated public land as private property and manipulated official procedures to benefit herself and her relatives.
Her US-based son, Sajeeb Wazed, and daughter, Saima Wazed, a senior UN official, were each sentenced to five years in prison.
Hasina fled Bangladesh by helicopter on 5 August 2024 after weeks of student-led protests against what many described as her increasingly autocratic rule.
Public prosecutor Khan Moinul Hasan said he would appeal the corruption verdicts, noting: “We are not satisfied with the ruling, as we sought the maximum punishment.”
Bangladesh has remained politically unstable since Hasina’s downfall, with ongoing violence overshadowing preparations for elections scheduled for February 2026. The United Nations estimates that up to 1,400 people were killed during crackdowns carried out under her government as she tried to retain power.
Hasina has rejected both the corruption judgment and the earlier death sentence, calling them “biased and politically motivated”. She is also facing prosecution in three additional corruption cases alongside her sister, Sheikh Rehana, and her children, including British MP Tulip Siddiq.
