Bangladesh’s political landscape took another dramatic turn on Thursday as a Dhaka court handed former prime minister Sheikh Hasina a 21-year prison sentence on corruption charges—barely a week after she was condemned to death in a separate trial for crimes against humanity.
Hasina, 78, has been living in India since her ouster last year and has repeatedly ignored court orders demanding her return. Her absence did not prevent the latest verdict: a conviction delivered in absentia on three corruption cases brought by the country’s Anti-Corruption Commission, each tied to the alleged acquisition of valuable state land near the capital.
In his ruling, Judge Abdullah Al Mamun framed the case as a window into what he called Hasina’s “persistent corruption mindset,” arguing she had treated public property as though it belonged to her family. Court documents accused the former leader of manipulating official processes to secure prime plots for herself and close relatives, including her son and daughter—both of whom were handed five-year sentences.
The latest judgment deepens the legal avalanche facing the once-dominant political figure, who fled Bangladesh on August 5, 2024, in a helicopter as student-led protests against her increasingly authoritarian rule escalated. Those demonstrations ultimately toppled her government, ending more than a decade of tightly controlled political life marked by allegations of censorship, mass arrests, and violent crackdowns.
Her death sentence, issued November 17 and stemming from the repression of last year’s uprising, has already drawn international scrutiny. Human rights observers have questioned both the speed of the proceedings and the broader political motivations behind them. Hasina has dismissed the charges entirely, calling the trials “biased, retaliatory, and designed to erase my legacy.”
Yet the legal battles are far from over. She still faces additional corruption cases alongside her sister Sheikh Rehana and members of her extended family, including British MP Tulip Siddiq.
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Prosecutors signaled that even Thursday’s ruling may not be the final word. Public prosecutor Khan Moinul Hasan said the state would appeal, arguing the punishment fell short of what they considered appropriate for the scale of wrongdoing.
Bangladesh remains unsettled as campaigning begins for the February 2026 elections. The United Nations estimates up to 1,400 people were killed during last year’s unrest—violence that continues to cast a long, volatile shadow over a nation still struggling to define its post-Hasina future.