Labour MP and former UK minister Tulip Siddiq has been sentenced to two years in prison in Bangladesh after being tried in her absence on corruption charges she firmly denies. Siddiq, who represents Hampstead and Highgate, was convicted alongside 16 others for allegedly influencing her aunt, Bangladesh’s ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, to secure a plot of land for family members on the outskirts of Dhaka.
Siddiq, who lives in London, is not expected to serve the sentence. The UK and Bangladesh have no extradition treaty, and her lawyers insist she is not a Bangladeshi citizen, disputing claims that authorities obtained a passport and tax details in her name.
The case is one of several launched by prosecutors since Hasina’s government was toppled in July 2024. Trials targeting the former prime minister, her associates and her relatives have accelerated under Bangladesh’s interim government, which Hasina accuses of being politically motivated.
Siddiq resigned as a Treasury minister in January amid questions over her family ties, but maintained she had “done nothing wrong,” calling the allegations false and vexatious.
Court documents accused Siddiq of using “special power” to influence Hasina to secure land for her mother, sister and brother. Judge Rabiul Alam sentenced her to two years in prison and a fine of 100,000 Bangladeshi taka (£620), with an additional six months if unpaid.
Siddiq has not commented since the verdict, but previously criticised prosecutors for briefing accusations to the media without formally presenting evidence to her legal team.
The ruling comes just two weeks after Hasina herself was sentenced to death in a separate trial held without her presence. She was convicted of crimes against humanity linked to a violent crackdown on protests in the months before her ousting. Hasina, now exiled in India, denies the accusations.
Bangladeshi authorities estimate that $234bn was allegedly misappropriated during Hasina’s rule figures dismissed as politically driven by the Awami League, which calls the latest verdict against Siddiq “entirely predictable” and lacking judicial fairness.
Senior British legal figures including former justice secretary Robert Buckland, former attorney general Dominic Grieve and human rights lawyer Cherie Blair have expressed concern over the trial process. In a letter to Bangladesh’s UK envoy, they warned that Siddiq had been unable to secure proper legal representation, describing the process as “contrived and unfair.”
Siddiq continues to face additional charges in Bangladesh, including two ongoing trials and an investigation into the transfer of a luxury Dhaka apartment.
Before her resignation, UK ethics adviser Sir Laurie Magnus found no evidence of impropriety on Siddiq’s part, though he cautioned she should have been more aware of the reputational risks tied to her family’s political history.
Despite an arrest warrant issued in Dhaka, Siddiq was not compelled to return to Bangladesh for trial, and British courts would require clear, credible evidence before approving any extradition request.
Erizia Rubyjeana
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