Labour MP Tulip Siddiq has made a scathing rebuke of what she called a “complete kangaroo court” and a “flawed and farcical” process, expressing utter disbelief Monday after a Bangladesh court sentenced her to two years in prison in absentia on corruption charges tied to her family’s alleged abuse of power under her aunt, five-time Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The verdict, delivered by a Dhaka court amid a broader crackdown on Sheikh Hasina’s inner circle, accuses Siddiq of leveraging her influence as a UK opposition MP to pressure Sheikh Hasina into allocating a plot in Dhaka’s Purbachal to her mother, Sheikh Rehana\u2014the exiled prime minister’s sister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prosecutors from the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) claimed the 13,610-square-foot parcel, part of a government housing project, was secured through “collusion and undue influence,” estimating the illicit gain at millions of taka. Hasina herself was sentenced to five years in the same case, while Rehana received seven years as the “prime participant.” Fourteen other family members and officials face ongoing probes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Siddiq, the MP for Hampstead and Highgate who resigned as Economic Secretary to the Treasury in January amid related scrutiny, learned of her conviction through media reports<\/a>\u2014not official channels. “I’m absolutely baffled by the whole thing,” she told Sky News<\/a> in London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n