DHAKA, Bangladesh — Bangladesh’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was sentenced Thursday to 21 years in prison in three corruption cases related to allocations of land in a government project.
She was sentenced to death earlier this month for crimes against humanity involving the crackdown on the mass uprising that ended her 15-year rule last year. She is in exile in India, and all of the trials have been conducted in absentia.
The three verdicts found Hasina guilty of illegally securing plots in the Purbachal New Town project for herself and her family despite their ineligibility.
Each sentence was seven years in prison, and Dhaka Special Court Judge Mohammad Abdullah Al Mamun said Hasina would need to serve them consecutively.
Her son Sajeeb Wazed and daughter Saima Wazed were each sentenced to five years in prison in one of the three cases.
All of them have been found guilty of “hiding information on” their property in Dhaka to illegally obtain three plots of land in the project by exploiting state power, the judge said.
Hasina and her former ruling Awami League party have denounced the trials against her. She did not appoint a defense lawyer, and global human rights groups have questioned the credibility and fairness of the trial process against Hasina.
In a message to The Associated Press after Thursday’s verdict, Hasina’s son in Washington D.C. said that the aim of the conviction was “to prevent any of my family (members) from running for elections” in the future.
“The charges against each of us were for purchasing a 1/6 acre plot of land, on the outskirts of Dhaka in an empty area for $30,000 each. This was another rapid trial, we were not allowed to hire attorneys and received no communications. This was yet another kangaroo court judgment,” he said.
The Anti-corruption Commission filed the three cases against Hasina and her son and daughter and others after her ouster. Other cases also involve the land project, and another verdict is expected Dec. 1 in a separate case.
Bangladesh has been going through a difficult political transition under an interim government headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, and new elections are planned in February.
