Labour Rejects Bangladesh Court Ruling Against Tulip Siddiq as Unfair

Former Labour minister Tulip Siddiq has been sentenced to four years in prison by a court in Bangladesh, but the party has said it cannot recognise or accept the ruling. The same court handed a 10-year jail term to her aunt, former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina, over a corruption case linked to a government township project near Dhaka.

Labour said senior legal experts have raised serious concerns about the fairness of the proceedings, warning that the Hampstead and Highgate MP was denied due process. The party said Siddiq was never formally informed of the charges against her, despite repeated requests made by her legal team to the Bangladeshi authorities.

A Labour spokesperson said the party and its elected representatives take the rule of law seriously and always fulfil their legal responsibilities, but stressed that anyone facing allegations must be given the right to make legal representations. As that right was not upheld in this case, Labour said it cannot recognise this judgment.

Siddiq, who lives in the UK, continues to represent her north London constituency in Parliament. The handling of the case has also been criticised by senior legal figures, including former Conservative justice secretary Robert Buckland and former attorney general Dominic Grieve.

Bangladesh’s anti-corruption authority alleges that Sheikh Hasina colluded with government officials to illegally secure six plots in the Purbachal New Town Project for herself and family members, despite their ineligibility under government regulations.

Following a similar case last year in which Siddiq received a two-year sentence, the MP described the proceedings as a “kangaroo court” and said she would not be distracted by what she called the “dirty politics” of Bangladesh.