Labour MP Tulip Siddiq sentenced to two years in prison at corruption trial in Bangladesh
The Labour MP resigned her ministerial post earlier this year after she was accused of illegally receiving a plot of land from her aunt. She was being tried in absentia.
Monday 1 December 2025 17:59, UK
Labour MP Tulip Siddiq has been sentenced to two years in jail for corruption in Bangladesh.
Ms Siddiq was accused of using her influence over her aunt, Sheikh Hasina, the country's former prime minister, to illegally secure plots of land for her family members in the suburbs of the capital, Dhaka.
She was being tried in absentia.
Her aunt, Sheikh Hasina, was ousted last year and has since been sentenced to death, although she fled to India before she could be arrested.
Ms Siddiq, her niece, has described herself as "collateral damage" in the new Bangladesh government's campaign against Ms Hasina, and previously said the trial was based on "fabricated accusations and driven by a clear political vendetta".
In response to the sentence on Monday, Ms Siddiq said the "whole process has been flawed and farcical from the beginning to the end".
"The outcome of this kangaroo court is as predictable as it is unjustified," she added. "I hope this so-called 'verdict' will be treated with the contempt it deserves.
"My focus has always been my constituents in Hampstead and Highgate, and I refuse to be distracted by the dirty politics of Bangladesh."
The Labour MP resigned her ministerial post earlier this year after facing calls to step down over links to Ms Hasina.
She was later accused of illegally receiving a plot of land from her aunt.
An investigation by Sir Keir Starmer's ethics adviser, Sir Laurie Magnus, did not find "evidence of improprieties".
However, he said it was "regrettable" that Ms Siddiq had not been more alert to the "potential reputational risks" of the ties to her aunt.
The UK does not have an extradition treaty in place with Bangladesh.
Could Siddiq sue the Bangladeshi government?
When corruption allegations against Tulip Siddiq first started to emerge from Bangladesh, the Labour MP and then minister was reluctant to speak publicly.
That's changed now, and her interview today shows she's clearly confident in her defence.
Her hand has been strengthened by interventions from both the Labour Party and a group of high-profile UK lawyers.
In many cases of this kind, you might expect Labour HQ to trot out the line that this was a "personal matter for the individual in question".
However, today the party machine has rowed in behind their MP, making it clear that she won't be kicked out and saying that they "cannot recognise this judgement" because of concerns around the fairness of the proceedings.
She has also been explicit that she is not considering her position as an MP.
That said, ongoing noise around allegations of corruption is never ideal for an elected politician.
So it remains unclear if a route back to a ministerial job will re-open for Ms Siddiq in the short term.
While she won't be going to Bangladesh to clear her name, sources do suggest that a defamation claim against the authorities in Dhaka is being looked at.
Former prime minister: Investigation 'corrupt'
Awami League, a banned political party in Bangladesh, led by Ms Hasina, said that the verdicts were "entirely predictable... just as other recent ACC (Anti-Corruption Commission) cases have been," and accused the commission of being led by "desperate, unelected men".
Ms Hasina then added in a statement through the party: "No country is free from corruption. But corruption needs to be investigated in a way that is not itself corrupt.
"The ACC has failed that test today. It is controlled by an unelected government run by the Awami League's political opponents.
"It has exclusively targeted members of the Awami League, or those seen to be sympathetic to our party, and done nothing to prosecute or even investigate the cronyism that has escalated in Bangladesh since Dr Mohammad Yunus and his so-called interim government took power."
The former prime minister was handed a combined 21-year prison sentence in other corruption cases last week.
'Profound concerns' raised by British lawyers
Last week, a group of prominent British lawyers and former cabinet ministers wrote an open letter raising "profound concerns" over Ms Siddiq's trial in Bangladesh.
Barrister Cherie Blair, who is married to ex-prime minister Tony Blair, Sir Robert Buckland, who served as justice secretary, and Dominic Grieve, an ex-attorney general, wrote that the criminal proceedings against Ms Siddiq were "artificial and a contrived and unfair way of pursuing a prosecution".
War of words looks set to intensify
Tulip Siddiq appears to have a target on her back.
Many close to her powerful aunt, Sheikh Hasina, have started to feel the force of a legal system that seems keen to deliver a decisive bookmark to her rule.
She led the country for 15 years before being ousted last year following bloody protests which left up to 1,400 people dead. As a minister in the UK, Tulip Siddiq was meant to fight corruption.
But now, she's been found guilty of it in Bangladesh - a move she claims is the product of a political witch hunt. And the Labour MP is far from out of the woods.
Ms Siddiq faces two more cases and prosecutors today told me both carry possible life sentences.
But with no extradition treaty between the two countries, she's unlikely to serve any time behind bars.
Both sides today sounded vindicated and defiant. There are many striking aspects to the case in Dhaka - not least her absence from it.
There was also a striking lack of physical evidence presented.
Instead, some of the process seemed to play out in the papers rather than the courtroom with Ms Siddiq branded a fugitive. That war of words looks set to intensify now.
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The lawyers wrote that Ms Siddiq did not have a "proper opportunity of defending herself".
"She is being tried in her absence without justification and… the proceedings fall far short of standards of fairness recognised internationally," they said.
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The letter was also signed by high-profile lawyers Philippe Sands and Geoffrey Robertson.
They called for the Bangladeshi authorities to put all the allegations to Ms Siddiq's lawyers "so that she has a fair opportunity to address them".