Labour MP has been sentenced to prison in Bangladesh
Tulip Siddiq has been sentenced by a court in Bangladesh to two years in prison for corruption involving a government land project.
The Labour MP has denied the allegations that have seen her aunt, the ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, given five years as part of the sentencing on Monday.
The Hampstead and Highgate representative was found guilty by a Bangladeshi court in August, in a trial which she called a “farce” and she is unlikely to actually do time.
Here is all you need to know.
Former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is Ms Siddiq’s aunt. Picture: Alamy
Who is Tulip Siddiq?
Tulip Siddiq is the Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate, a role she has had since winning the seat in the 2015 election.
The 43-year-old is of Bangladeshi heritage and attended a school in the capital Dhaka for part of her education.
Her maternal grandfather is Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the second prime minister of Bangladesh and its first president, while her aunt Sheikh Hasina was PM from 1996 to 2001 and again from 2009 until last year.
Ms Siddiq is Islamic and has two children with Christian Percy, her husband since 2013.
While she has denied wrongdoing and been backed by her party, she 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.
What has Tulip Siddiq been accused of?
The Associated Press reports Rabiul Alam, the judge of Dhaka’s Special Judge’s Court, said Ms Hasina misused her power as prime minister and that Ms Siddiq was guilty of corruptly influencing her aunt in helping her mother get a piece of land in a government project.
Ms Hasina, Ms Siddiq, and her mother Sheikh Rehana, was given five, two and seven years in prison respectively, although the three women are out of the country and were tried in absentia.
Tulip Siddiq resigns as minister after ethics investigation
What will happen now?
The UK does not have an extradition treaty in place with Bangladesh and it seems that the MP will not serve the sentence, and will likely continue in her role.
The Labour Party has said it does not recognise the corruption judgment against her because she has been denied the opportunity to a fair legal process in the case.
Ms Siddiq’s lawyers have called the charges baseless and politically motivated.
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.
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.
Ms Siddiq has denied all the allegations. Picture: Alamy
A Labour Party spokesperson said: “The Labour Party and all our elected representatives take the rule of law incredibly seriously and will always fulfil our legal responsibilities.
“As has been reported, highly regarded senior legal professionals have highlighted that Tulip Siddiq has not had access to a fair legal process in this case and has never been informed of the details of the charges against her.
“This is despite repeated requests made to the Bangladeshi authorities through her legal team.
“Anyone facing any charge should always be afforded the right to make legal representations when allegations are made against them.
“Given that has not happened in this case, we cannot recognise this judgment.”
Cabinet minister Darren Jones said Ms Siddiq had made it clear that she denies “any wrongdoing whatsoever”.
He told Sky News: “She’s tried to engage, as I understand, with this process in Bangladesh, unsuccessfully.
“And so she’s concluded it’s a kind of more a political operation 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 details, but my understanding is that she refutes any accusations.”
By William Mata
