Bangladesh court issues arrest warrant against Hasina, her sister Rehana, British MP Rizwana in graft cases

Dhaka: A court in Bangladesh on Sunday issued arrest warrants against ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, her sister Sheikh Rehana, British MP Tulip Rizwana Siddiq, and 50 others in connection with the alleged illegal acquisition of land by abusing political power.

Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Zakir Hossain passed the order after considering three separate chargesheets filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), the Dhaka Tribune newspaper reported.

Judge Hossain fixed April 27 to review reports on the execution of the arrest orders, the newspaper quoted ACC Assistant Director (Prosecution) Aminul Islam as saying.

Citing court sources, Bengali newspaper Prothom Alo reported that the ACC recently submitted chargesheets to the court against 53 people in three separate cases on corruption charges in plot allocation.

As all 53 accused, including Hasina, were absconding, the court issued arrest warrants against them, the paper said.

On April 10, the same court issued arrest warrants against Hasina, her daughter Saima Wazed Putul, and 17 others in a separate corruption case related to Rajuk plot allotments.

Putul has been serving as the South East Asian regional director for the World Health Organisation (WHO) based in New Delhi since November 1, 2023.

On January 13, ACC filed a case against Rehana for allegedly acquiring a 10-katha plot in the Purbachal New Town Project through abuse of authority. The case named 15 accused, including Hasina and Rehana's daughter British lawmaker Tulip Rizwana Siddiq. Rehana did not hold any official position in the past regime.

After the investigation, ACC submitted a chargesheet on March 10 against 17 individuals, adding two more names.

In a second case, ACC filed charges against Azmina Siddiq for similar irregularities in acquiring a 10-katha plot in Purbachal. This case initially listed 16 accused, including Tulip Siddiq and Sheikh Hasina. The final chargesheet, submitted on March 10, named 18 people.

The ACC filed a third case the same day against Rehana's son Radwan Mujib Siddiq, accused of obtaining a plot using political influence. Tulip Siddiq and Sheikh Hasina were among the 16 named in the initial complaint. The final chargesheet also included 18 accused.

Hasina is also accused of numerous charges like mass murders and crimes against humanity, enforced disappearances while these cases were being filed with Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal.

Hasina’s 16-year-long Awami League regime was toppled on August 5 last year in a student-led violent mass uprising. Since then, 77-year-old Hasina has been living in India.