DHAKA, Bangladesh: Bangladesh's former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her niece, Tulip Siddiq, a British lawmaker, were sentenced this week to ten years in prison in two cases involving a government township project near the capital, Dhaka.

Judge Mohammed Rabiul Alam of the Special Judge's Court-4 also handed down seven-year prison sentences to another niece, Azmina Siddiq, and a nephew, Radwan Mujib Siddiq.

The country's leading anti-corruption agency filed cases accusing former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of working with government officials to illegally obtain six land plots in the Purbachal New Town Project near Dhaka. The agency said she secured the land for herself and her family even though they were not eligible under government rules.

The court decisions came as the interim government, led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, prepared for elections scheduled for February 12. Hasina's former ruling party, the Awami League, has been banned from taking part in the elections.

Both Hasina and Tulip Siddiq had already been sentenced earlier in similar corruption cases, and both criticized the verdicts. Siddiq said she never received any land from the Bangladeshi government during her aunt Hasina's 15 years in power because she is not a Bangladeshi citizen. However, prosecutors claimed Siddiq used her aunt's influence to help her mother and two siblings obtain land in the project. Siddiq strongly denied this accusation.

Hasina had previously been found guilty in four other corruption cases linked to the same housing project. In those cases, the court sentenced her to 26 years in prison for abusing her power.

Her son, Sajeeb Wazed, and her daughter, Saima Wazed, were each given five-year prison sentences. Hasina's younger sister, Sheikh Rehana, received a seven-year sentence. All of them are currently living outside Bangladesh. Tulip Siddiq lives in the United Kingdom.

Hasina has been living in exile in India since August 5, 2024, after she was removed from power during a significant student-led protest movement that ended her 15-year rule. She has also been sentenced to death on charges of crimes against humanity related to the violent crackdown during the uprising, in which hundreds of people were killed.

Hasina rejected the trial and called the special tribunal unfair, describing it as a "kangaroo court."

India has not responded to Bangladesh's request to extradite Hasina.