Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Sabbir Faiz issued the directive Thursday, responding to the Anti-Corruption Commission’s plea. The ACC alleges Siddiq exploited Hasina’s influence to seize a Gulshan flat from Eastern Housing Limited via RAJUK without compensation, corrupting a legal officer in the process.

Local media highlighted the bench assistant Riyaz Hussain’s confirmation of the order. With Siddiq overseas, the Red Notice aims to bring her back for trial. This development fits a broader BNP government offensive against Awami League holdovers, viewed by analysts as vengeance post-revolution.

Recent convictions paint a grim picture for the family. Hasina faces a cumulative 36 years from multiple scams, including the Porobochol rail project plots. Siddiq has racked up six years across cases. The family retorts that proceedings under the Yunus-led interim regime are sham trials, packed with fabricated charges and no fair hearing.

As Bangladesh navigates its post-Hasina era, this international warrant request spotlights ongoing power struggles. Siddiq’s UK political future hangs in balance, while the ACC presses forward, signaling no let-up in anti-graft drives that blur lines between justice and politics.

Judge Mohammad Rabiul Alam, presiding over Dhaka Special Judge Court-4, alongside ACC prosecutor Mir Ahmad Ali Salam, finalized the long-running probe. Twelve co-accused, including Hasina’s nephew Radwan Mujib Siddiq and niece Azmina Siddiq, joined her in 10-year sentences for one count. Radwan and Azmina faced seven years each in a separate charge, with another defendant getting two years.

According to local outlet The Daily Star, five more people were sentenced to five years in an associated case. Fines of 1 lakh Taka each were levied on 22 convicts, including Hasina, with additional six-month imprisonment for defaulters.

The saga traces back further: On December 1, Hasina received five years for plot distribution flaws in Purbachal, her sister Sheikh Rehana got seven, and Tulip two. November 27 last year brought a cumulative 21 years across three ACC cases on similar grounds.

Dismissing the verdicts as vendettas, Hasina’s camp issued a sharp rebuttal. ‘We categorically reject all corruption allegations,’ it stated. ‘Our adversaries’ political agenda drives these claims, powered by an unelected interim government manipulating the ACC with biased, half-baked proof, denying us due process.’

They slammed Muhammad Yunus’s administration for dragging non-political family into the fray: ‘These charges are baseless and malicious, but worse is targeting innocents.’

Purbachal, envisioned as Dhaka’s satellite city to combat urban sprawl, allegedly saw elite insiders snag plots cheaply under Hasina’s rule, sparking outrage among land seekers. This conviction amplifies scrutiny on her 15-year reign, now under the interim government’s anti-corruption crusade.

With Hasina in exile since student-led protests toppled her last year, the ruling fuels debates on judicial independence versus political retribution. Appeals loom, but the message from Dhaka’s courts is unequivocal: past impunity ends here.