Bangladesh’s ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina sentenced to 10 years in two corruption cases

The only accused to surrender before the court, Rajuk member Mohammad Khurshid Alam, was sentenced to two years in prison, one year’s imprisonment in each case.

All the convicted were also fined Tk1 lakh each and were ordered to serve an additional six months’ imprisonment in default of payment.

The cases were filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) over alleged abuse of power in the allocation of two 10-katha plots.

The accused, according to the prosecution, manipulated the process of allocation and violated existing rules and regulations of the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk).

Hasina urges voters to ‘overthrow Yunus regime’ ahead of Bangladesh polls

Hasina urged voters ahead of the February 12 parliamentary elections, to remove the Muhammad Yunus-led government and called for an impartial investigation into the July-August 2024 events leading to her ouster.

In a recorded address to the people of Bangladesh, she listed a five-point demand to restore the country’s “proud traditions of democracy and pluralism”.

Some of the points that she made in her address were regarding ending the violence on streets, safety of religious minorities and women, and restoring trust in the judicial system.

Hasina, who has been living in India since she fled Bangladesh on August 5, 2024, made these points in a voice-recorded message played at a press conference last month by her supporters and party members at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia in New Delhi.

The conference was attended, among others, by Bangladesh foreign minister in her erstwhile government A K Abdul Momen, through virtual mode.