Bangladeshi Court Jails UK MP Tulip Siddiq in Absentia Over Corruption

A court in Bangladesh sentenced British MP and former minister Tulip Siddiq to two years in jail in absentia on Monday over alleged corruption linked to the unlawful allocation of a plot of land, prosecutors said.

Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Siddiq’s aunt, received a five-year sentence, while her sister Rehana was sentenced to seven years. All three were fined 100,000 taka ($820), with failure to pay adding six months to their prison terms. Siddiq, who resigned in January as the UK minister overseeing financial services and anti-corruption work following scrutiny of her links to Hasina, has dismissed the charges as a «politically motivated smear.»

Britain does not have an extradition treaty with Bangladesh. Hasina’s representatives did not respond to requests for comment.

Prosecutors said the disputed land in Dhaka, covering 13,610 square feet (1,264 square metres), was illegally allocated through political influence and collusion with senior officials during Hasina’s tenure. Fourteen other defendants were sentenced to five years each.

Hasina, who fled to India in August 2024 amid an uprising, was sentenced to death last month over her government’s crackdown on demonstrators and last week received a combined 21-year prison sentence in other corruption cases.