Tulip Siddiq MP given jail sentence in Bangladesh after trial in her absence

By Nile Post Editor | Monday, December 1, 2025
Tulip Siddiq MP given jail sentence in Bangladesh after trial in her absence
"I'm absolutely baffled by the whole thing - I've still had no contact whatsoever from the Bangladeshi authorities despite them spreading malicious allegations about me for a year-and-a-half now

BBC | Labour MP and former minister Tulip Siddiq has been sentenced to two years in prison in Bangladesh after being put on trial in her absence alongside 16 other people over corruption allegations.

She was found guilty of influencing her aunt, Bangladesh's ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, to secure a plot of land for her family in the outskirts of the capital Dhaka, a claim she strongly denies.

Siddiq, who is based in London and has rejected the charges, is unlikely to serve the sentence.

The Labour MP said the process had been "flawed and farcical from the beginning to the end"

"I'm absolutely baffled by the whole thing - I've still had no contact whatsoever from the Bangladeshi authorities despite them spreading malicious allegations about me for a year-and-a-half now," she said.

"There's been absolutely no summons sent to me, there's no charge sheet, I've had no correspondence from them - I'm not difficult to find, I'm a parliamentarian."

She said she had engaged lawyers in the UK and Bangladesh.

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"I feel like I'm in some sort of Kafkaesque nightmare," she added.

"The only reason I know I'm being convicted is because I read it in the newspapers. So this is trial by media, which is deeply unfair."

Since Hasina's regime was overturned, prosecutors in Bangladesh have launched a number of wide-ranging legal cases against the former leader, her past associates and family members.

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