Tulip Siddiq: Labour MP sentenced to two years in prison in Bangladesh after corruption trial

The case involves Tulip Siddiq, who has been the Hampstead and Highgate MP since 2015. She resigned as a Treasury minister in January over ties to her aunt.

It is being held in Bangladesh, and this morning has seen the former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who is Siddiq’s aunt, given five months in prison and her niece two years in prison for corruption involving a government land project.

Rabiul Alam, the judge of Dhaka’s Special Judge’s Court, said Hasina misused her power as prime minister, while Ms Siddiq was guilty of corruptly influencing her aunt in helping her mother get a piece of land in a government project.

Siddiq’s mother, Sheikh Rehana, was given seven years in prison and was considered the prime participant in the case.

It involved the Purbachal New Town project in a suburb of Dhaka.

Siddiq, who serves as the Member for Hampstead and Highgate in London, has denied the allegations.

Hasina has been in exile in India since she was ousted by a mass uprising last year. The trial and others against her were conducted in absentia.

Two weeks ago Hasina was sentenced to death in a separate trial over her role in a crackdown against the protests which ultimately forced her from office in July 2024. She was found guilty of crimes against humanity over the deaths of an estimated 1,400 people at the hands of the police.

The UK does not have an extradition treaty with Bangladesh, and Siddiq was not forced to return to Dhaka for the trial despite authorities there issuing an arrest warrant.