Labour MP and former minister Tulip Siddiq has been sentenced to 2 years in jail in Bangladesh after being placed on trial in her absence alongside 16 different folks over corruption allegations.
She was discovered responsible of influencing her aunt, Bangladesh’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, to safe a plot of land for her household within the outskirts of the capital Dhaka, a declare she strongly denies.
Siddiq, who relies in London and has rejected the costs, is unlikely to serve the sentence.
In a press release, the Labour MP mentioned the method had been “flawed and farcical from the start to the top”.
She added: “The result of this kangaroo courtroom is as predictable as it’s unjustified. I hope this so-called ‘verdict’ can be handled with the contempt it deserves.
“My focus has all the time been my constituents in Hampstead and Highgate and I refuse to be distracted by the soiled politics of Bangladesh.”
Since Hasina’s regime was overturned, prosecutors in Bangladesh have launched a lot of wide-ranging authorized circumstances towards the previous chief, her previous associates and relations.
The trial involving Siddiq – who stop as a Treasury minister in January over controversy round her ties to her aunt – has been enjoying out in Dhaka since August.
Siddiq continues to face a lot of excellent prices.
Courtroom paperwork included claims that Siddiq “pressured and influenced her aunt and the previous Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina utilizing her particular energy to safe [a plot of land] for her mom Rehana Siddiq, sister Azmina Siddiq and brother Radwan Siddiq”.
A prosecutor for Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Fee (ACC) beforehand mentioned Siddiq was tried as a Bangladeshi citizen as authorities had obtained her Bangladeshi passport, ID and tax quantity.
Siddiq’s legal professionals have disputed she is a Bangladeshi citizen, telling the Monetary Instances she has “by no means had” an ID card or voter ID, and “has not held a passport since she was a toddler”.
She was sentenced by Choose Rabiul Alam to 2 years in jail and a 100,000 Bangladeshi Taka positive ($821; £620). If she fails to pay, six months can be added to the sentence.
When the trial started, the MP mentioned prosecutors had “peddled false and vexatious allegations which have been briefed to the media however by no means formally put to me by investigators”.
A press release on her behalf continued: “I’ve been clear from the outset that I’ve finished nothing flawed and can reply to any credible proof that’s offered to me. Persevering with to smear my title to attain political factors is each baseless and damaging.
A Labour spokesperson mentioned the celebration couldn’t recognise the judgement.
“As has been reported, extremely regarded senior authorized professionals have highlighted that Tulip Siddiq has not had entry to a good authorized course of on this case and has by no means been knowledgeable of the small print of the costs towards her,” the spokesperson mentioned.
“That is regardless of repeated requests made to the Bangladeshi authorities by way of her authorized staff.
“Anybody going through any cost ought to all the time be afforded the proper to make authorized representations when allegations are made towards them.”
It’s understood Ms Siddiq will not be topic to investigation or celebration disciplinary proceedings and retains her Labour Occasion membership and the Labour whip within the Home of Commons.
Final week, a bunch of senior legal professionals raised considerations with Bangladesh’s consultant within the UK over how the trial had been carried out.
Signatories to that assertion included ex-Justice Secretary Robert Buckland, former Lawyer Common Dominic Grieve, and Girl Cherie Blair, a human rights lawyer and spouse of former Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair.
In a letter first reported by the Guardian, they mentioned Siddiq had not been capable of safe correct authorized illustration through the trial, including: “Such a course of is synthetic and a contrived and unfair approach of pursuing a prosecution.”
The decision comes two weeks after Hasina was sentenced to loss of life in a separate trial over her position in a brutal crackdown towards the protests which in the end pressured her from workplace in July 2024.
She was discovered responsible of crimes towards humanity over the deaths of an estimated 1,400 folks by the hands of the police.
That trial was held in Hasina’s absence, as she has been in exile in India since being ousted. She denied the costs.
Siddiq, whose mom is the previous prime minister’s sister, continues to face a lot of excellent prices in Bangladesh, together with two ongoing trials in relation to the allegations on the centre of Monday’s verdict.
She can also be being investigated over the alleged switch of a flat positioned in a profitable space of Dhaka to her sister.
Siddiq and her household have additionally been investigated in relation to allegations of embezzlement round a £3.9bn deal in 2013 related to a Russian-funded nuclear energy plant deal.
Siddiq has repeatedly denied wrongdoing in relation to the allegations, which originated with claims made by Bobby Hajjaj, a political opponent of Hasina.
Bangladeshi authorities have mentioned they estimate that round $234bn (£174bn) was appropriated by way of corruption throughout Hasina’s reign.
Responding to the newest verdict, the Awami League, the political celebration which Hasina leads, described it as “fully predictable” and “firmly denied” the allegations towards the previous prime minister and her relations.
“The method fails to cross any affordable take a look at of judicial equity – a degree that has been made forcefully by each native and worldwide authorized consultants,” the celebration mentioned.
Hasina additionally accused Bangladesh’s judiciary of being managed by an “unelected authorities run by the Awami League’s political opponents”, particularly the interim authorities headed up by Dr Muhammed Yunus.
Previous to Siddiq’s resignation from the British authorities, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s impartial ethics adviser Sir Laurie Magnus mentioned he had not discovered “proof of improprieties” following an investigation.
Nevertheless, he mentioned it was “regrettable” Siddiq had not been extra alert to the “potential reputational dangers” of her ties to Hasina.
Whereas Siddiq continued to insist she was not responsible of any wrongdoing, she stop her junior ministerial position so as to not be a “distraction” for the federal government.
The UK doesn’t have an extradition treaty in place with Bangladesh. It’s categorised as a 2B nation, that means clear proof must be offered to legal professionals and judges to authorise any extradition.
Siddiq was not compelled to return to Dhaka for the trial regardless of authorities there issuing an arrest warrant.
