Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
She ws found guilty in a case centred around her aunt.
A court in Dhakan Bangladesh, has issued a two-year jail term to UK Labour MP Tulip Siddiq (former Treasury minister), ruling she played a role in a corruption case tied to a government land scheme, several news outlets, including the BBC reports.
The judgment forms part of a wider set of prosecutions involving former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina (Siddiq’s aunt) and members of her family.
What are the allegations?
According to Bangladeshi authorities, the case centred on a land allocation within the Purbachal New Town development near Dhaka.
Siddiq, who represents Hampstead and Highgate, has consistently denied influencing decisions around the plot, The Guardian reports.
The court also sentenced her mother, Sheikh Rehana, to seven years as the lead defendant. Hasina, removed from office during last year’s political turmoil, received a five-year sentence in absentia while living in exile in India.
Siddiq has remained in London throughout the proceedings, which were held entirely without her participation. Her legal team says she has not held Bangladeshi citizenship since childhood and never possessed official identity documents.
Unlikely to do time
Bangladesh has no extradition treaty with the UK, and the country’s 2B classification means extradition would require substantial proof and a formal judicial process.
Even if Dhaka issued an arrest warrant, British authorities have no obligation to act on it.
Siddiq resigned as Treasury minister earlier this year, a step framed in Westminster as precautionary rather than an admission of wrongdoing.
A government ethics assessment led by Sir Keir Starmer’s office found no evidence she breached conduct rules.
Hasina’s parallel cases
According to Reuters, Hasina faces numerous judgments handed down in her absence, including a death sentence in November over the violent suppression of last year’s uprising.
Separate rulings linked to the same township project delivered additional jail terms to her, her son and her daughter.
Other relatives implicated in the case, including Siddiq’s siblings, are also abroad as further investigations continue.
Sources: AP, Reuters, BBC, The Guardian
