Awami League Rejects 'Politically Motivated' Corruption Verdict Against Former PM Sheikh Hasina

Sheikh Hasina has been residing in exile in India since her departure from Bangladesh on August 5 last year.

Dhaka:

The Awami League on Monday denounced the verdict issued by a Dhaka court against former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and members of her family in a case filed by the country's Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), describing the outcome as "entirely predictable".

The party criticized the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government and rejected the verdict, claiming that the ruling, similar to other recent ACC cases, demonstrates that the commission has been weaponized for political objectives by "desperate, unelected men".

These comments followed a Dhaka court's decision on Monday to sentence Hasina to five years in prison for irregularities in allocating plots under the Purbachal New Town project.

The court also sentenced Hasina's sister, Sheikh Rehana, to seven years in prison, while her niece, British MP Tulip Siddiq, received a two-year imprisonment term.

"No persuasive evidence of corruption was presented at the ACC, because none exists. Defendants were denied proper legal representation at the ACC and were judged in absentia. The process fails to meet any reasonable standard of judicial fairness—a point emphasized strongly by both local and international legal experts," stated the Awami League in their official statement.

According to the party, the unelected Yunus has expanded his personal vendetta against Hasina and, without evidence, has accused elected officials who are outside the country. This judicial and diplomatic debacle, they argued, is self-defeating and harmful to Bangladesh's international reputation.

"No country is completely free from corruption. However, corruption must be investigated in a manner that is not itself corrupt. The ACC has failed that test today. It is controlled by an unelected government run by the Awami League's political rivals. It has exclusively targeted Awami League members, or those perceived to be sympathetic to our party, while doing nothing to prosecute or even investigate the cronyism that has increased in Bangladesh since Muhammad Yunus and his so-called interim government assumed power," the Awami League quoted Hasina as saying following the verdict.

She alleged that Yunus is using the ACC as a "smokescreen" to divert attention from his own governance failures.

"He is also using it to suppress a political party that has been elected nine times since Independence, including the last time Bangladeshis were permitted to vote. He recently prohibited the Awami League from participating in next year's elections—thereby disenfranchising millions of voters and undermining our troubled country's prospects for achieving genuine political reconciliation," she added.

The former Prime Minister stated that the verdict only serves the interests of "Yunus and his ragtag coalition of extremists and opportunists," warning that the entire situation risks damaging Bangladesh's standing with key trading partners.