A Labour MP has been sentenced to two years in prison in Bangladesh after being convicted of corruption in her absence.
Tulip Siddiq, who last year stepped down as a Treasury minister, denies the allegations and has claimed the process was politically motivated. The MP for Hampstead and Highgate was convicted alongside her aunt – former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina – and mother. Ms Hasina – who was last month sentenced to death for allowing lethal force against protesters – was jailed for five years at the same hearing.
The Associated Press reports Rabiul Alam, the judge of Dhaka’s Special Judge’s Court, said Ms Hasina misused her power as prime minister. He also said Ms Siddiq was guilty of corruptly influencing her aunt in helping her mother get a piece of land in a government project. Ms Siddiq’s mother, Sheikh Rehana, was given seven years in prison and was reportedly considered the prime participant in the case.
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AFP via Getty Images)
The three women are out of the country. Ms Siddiq’s lawyers have called the charges baseless and politically motivated. Keir Starmer’s chief secretary, Darren Jones, told Sky News: “Tulip has made it very clear that she denies any wrongdoing whatsoever. She’s tried to engage, as I understand, with this process in Bangladesh, unsuccessfully. She’s concluded it’s more of a political operation rather than a legal one.
“She was obviously not part of that trial or court process in Bangladesh. And they concluded, innocence or otherwise, without her.
“So Tulip will have to comment more on the detail, but my understanding is that she refutes any accusations.”
She previously told The Guardian the charges against her were “completely absurd” and asserted she was “collateral damage” in the longstanding feud between her aunt and Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus. The UK does not have an extradition treaty in place with Bangladesh.
The Hampstead and Highgate MP resigned from her ministerial job in the Treasury earlier this year following an investigation by the Prime Minister’s ethics adviser into her links to Ms Hasina’s regime, which was overthrown last year.
She came under scrutiny over her use of properties in London linked to her aunt’s allies. Although Sir Laurie Magnus concluded that Ms Siddiq had not breached the Ministerial Code, he advised Sir Keir Starmer to reconsider her responsibilities.
Ms Siddiq chose to resign, saying she had become “a distraction” from the Government’s agenda.