India, Feb. 3 -- A special court in Bangladesh on Monday sentenced former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment in two cases linked to alleged misuse of authority and corruption in allocation of Government housing plots.

The verdict was delivered by Dhaka's Special Judge Robiul Alam, who found the 79-year-old ex-PM guilty of exerting official influence in the distribution of residential land under the Rajuk New Town Project in Purbachal, located on the outskirts of the capital. The court held that plots were unlawfully allotted to individuals close to Hasina, including members of her extended family.

Among those named in the case was Tulip Siddiq, a British Labour Party lawmaker and Hasina's niece, along with...