A Bangladeshi court has sentenced British Member of Parliament Tulip Siddiq to two years in prison in absentia for land corruption, a ruling her lawyers and a senior UK official suggest is politically motivated and part of a broader legal offensive against the family of the country’s recently ousted former Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina.
Siddiq, a Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate, also faces an $850 fine. The charge alleges she “enticed” former Prime Minister Hasina, her aunt, to arrange a plot of land in a Dhaka suburb for her family.
The trial was conducted without Siddiq present. She has consistently denied the allegations, stating they are untrue since Hasina’s government fell in July 2024.
Darren Jones, the UK Prime Minister’s Chief Secretary to the Treasury, described the conviction as a personal matter for Siddiq but acknowledged it was an in-absentia trial. He indicated his belief that the situation is political rather than legal.
The verdict is part of a wave of legal proceedings initiated by Bangladeshi prosecutors against former Prime Minister Hasina, her associates, and family members since her overthrow in July 2024.
Just two weeks prior, Sheikh Hasina, who is in exile in India, was herself sentenced to death in a separate case. This conviction related to her role in suppressing violent protests that led to her removal from power.
Bangladeshi authorities pursued the case against Siddiq as a Bangladeshi citizen, citing her passport, identification card, and tax number.
Her lawyers, however, dispute her Bangladeshi citizenship. They assert she has “never had” an ID or voter card and has not held a Bangladeshi passport since childhood.
Siddiq previously stated that prosecutors “disseminated false and distressing allegations to the media but never formally charged her.” She maintained she “did nothing wrong.”
The British MP still faces several other pending accusations in Bangladesh. These include an investigation into an apartment transfer in Dhaka and embezzlement claims related to a 2013 Russian-funded nuclear power plant deal.