A Bangladeshi court has issued an Interpol Red Notice for Labour MP Tulip Siddiq after sentencing the former anti-corruption minister to four years in prison for corruption charges.
Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Mohammed Sabbir Faiz issued the order today following a petition by Bangladesh’s corruption watchdog. The commission’s Assistant Director A.K.M. Mortuza Ali Sagar sought the red notice order through Interpol to facilitate Siddiq’s arrest.
The MP for Hampstead and Highgate, who lives in the UK and continues to represent her north London seat in Parliament, stated: “This 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. I hope this so-called ‘verdict’ will be treated with the contempt it deserves.”
Siddiq’s aunt, former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, received a 10-year term from the same court over a corruption case involving a government township project near Dhaka. Hasina was ousted in 2024 in a student-led uprising ending her 15-year rule and has been in exile in India since August 2024.
Bangladesh’s corruption watchdog filed cases alleging 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.
Labour stated senior lawyers warned Siddiq was not given a “fair legal process.” A spokesman said: “Highly regarded senior legal professionals have highlighted that Tulip Siddiq has not had access to a fair legal process in this case and has never been informed of the details of the charges against her. This is despite repeated requests made to the Bangladeshi authorities through her legal team.”
The spokesman added: “Anyone facing any charge should always be afforded the right to make legal representations when allegations are made against them. Given that has not happened in this case, we cannot recognise this judgment.”
Senior lawyers including former Conservative justice secretary Robert Buckland and ex-attorney general Dominic Grieve have criticised the handling of the case in Bangladesh.
This represents Siddiq’s second conviction. After receiving a two-year sentence in a similar case last year, she stated: “I feel like I am in some sort of Kafka-esque nightmare where I am carrying on doing my day job but on the other hand, I am apparently being convicted in Bangladesh.”
Cabinet minister Darren Jones told Sky News Siddiq denies “any wrongdoing whatsoever.” He stated: “She’s tried to engage, as I understand, with this process in Bangladesh, unsuccessfully and so she’s concluded it’s a kind of more a political operation than a legal one. She was obviously not part of that trial or court process in Bangladesh and they concluded, innocence or otherwise, without her.”
Siddiq added: “My focus has always been my constituents in Hampstead and Highgate and I refuse to be distracted by the dirty politics of Bangladesh.”
