Bangladesh Hands Ex-Leader 21 Years in Jail After Death Penalty

A Bangladeshi court has sentenced former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, already facing the death penalty for last year’s violent crackdown, to 21 years in prison in multiple corruption cases, a lawyer for the nation’s anti-graft agency said Thursday.

Hasina, who fled to India last year and was tried in absentia, was found guilty of corruption, and the court handed her a seven-year sentence for each of the three cases against her, said Khan Mohammad Moinul Hasan, chief coordinator for the Anti-Corruption Commission in an interview to Bloomberg News. The sentence “will run one after the other rather than concurrently,” he added.

The court ruled that Hasina colluded with senior officials and violated rules to secure high-value plots while holding the country’s highest office, according to Hasan, who cited the court verdict.

An email sent to her representative went unanswered.

Hasina remains in exile in New Delhi after fleeing the country in August 2024 after 15 years in power. Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who has served as interim leader since then, continues to face challenges in stabilizing the country. He has pledged to hold elections and a referendum on constitutional reforms in February.

The court also handed five-year prison sentences to Hasina’s son, Sajeeb Wazed, and her daughter, Saima Wazed, for their roles in “illicit allocation of state land,” Hasan said.