A special court in Bangladesh handed former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and family members a combined 21 year prison term across three corruption cases involving plots of land in a state backed housing programme, The Hindu reported.

The accused were tried in absentia and the court ruled that each 7 year term would run consecutively and imposed a BDT100,000 ($819) fine per case, with another 18 months of imprisonment if the penalties remain unpaid. Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy and daughter Saima Wazed Putul received five year sentences and identical fines. Bangladesh’s National Board of Revenue is expanding a parallel inquiry into whether over 10 kilograms of seized gold and alleged unpaid taxes were ever disclosed in Hasina’s income statements prior to her ousting from power and exile to India in 2024.

Investigators have also stated that several gifts received while in office were not placed in the country’s Toshakhana treasury, which national rules require. Officials say the findings on the gold holdings could shape additional financial and criminal charges. Hasina left Bangladesh on August 5 2024 during nationwide protests and has remained in India since then. Local courts had already classified her as an absconder.

Security was reinforced in Dhaka’s old quarter before the latest ruling, which followed an earlier tribunal decision on November 17 2025 that sentenced her to death in absentia for what the local courts determined to be crimes against humanity during 2024’s student unrest. Twenty other defendants, including a former Bangladesh junior minister and senior housing officials, were also convicted, with only one low ranking official cleared.

Bangladesh’s foreign affairs adviser said on November 25 2025 that Dhaka now expects India’s response given that the judicial process for these cases has concluded. The Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also revealed during a press briefing on November 26 that Bangladesh’s request to extradite Hasina “is being examined as part of ongoing judicial and internal legal processes”.