UK Labour MP Tulip Siddiq has been handed a two-year prison sentence by a Bangladeshi court, which delivered its ruling in her absence.
Siddiq, a former minister, was tried alongside 16 others on corruption charges connected to her aunt, Sheikh Hasina, the ousted former prime minister of Bangladesh.
The 43-year-old MP was accused of leveraging her influence over Hasina to secure a plot of land outside Dhaka for her mother, Rehana Siddiq, as well as her siblings, Azmina and Radwan Siddiq.
According to court documents, Siddiq “forced and influenced her aunt and former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina using her special power” to obtain the land for her family. The court imposed a two-year prison term and a fine of 100,000 Bangladeshi Taka; failure to pay would result in an additional six months of imprisonment.
Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has also brought multiple other charges against Siddiq, asserting that she was tried as a Bangladeshi national because authorities had taken possession of her passport, ID, and tax records. Her lawyer disputed this, stating she had not held a Bangladeshi passport since childhood.
Siddiq has denied all accusations, saying she was neither informed of the charges nor given access to legal counsel. In a statement released after the ruling, reported by The Guardian, she condemned the proceedings, calling them “flawed and farcical from beginning to end” and describing the verdict as “predictable” and “unjustified.”
Given that the UK has no extradition treaty with Bangladesh, it is considered improbable that Siddiq will serve the sentence.
The ruling follows shortly after Sheikh Hasina herself was sentenced to death on charges related to last year’s violent crackdown on student protests.
