British MP Tulip Siddiq calls the court verdict a ‘farce’

Sheikh Hasina’s niece, British MP Tulip Siddiq, has said that the process in which the trial in Bangladesh was completed in her absence over allegations of plot corruption was “flawed and farcical.”

In an immediate reaction given to the British media outlet The Guardian, she said that she sees nothing in this verdict that should be taken seriously.

“This entire process, from start to finish, is flawed and nothing but a farce. The outcome of this ‘kangaroo court’ was as predictable as it is completely unreasonable.”

In Monday’s verdict, Judge Robiul Alam of Dhaka’s Fourth Special Judge Court sentenced Tulip to two years’ imprisonment, along with sentencing her mother Sheikh Rehana to seven years and her aunt, ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, to five years in prison.

The allegation in the case was that although she possessed a house or flat or residential facility in Dhaka city, Sheikh Rehana “concealed that information and illegally obtained,” through corruption, the allocation of a 10-katha plot in the Purbachal New Town project. Sheikh Hasina allegedly “abused her power” to help her sister obtain the plot. And British MP Tulip Siddiq “influenced” her aunt Sheikh Hasina to help her mother Rehana obtain the plot.

Denying all these allegations, Tulip has been saying that they are “politically motivated smear campaigns.”

After the fall of the Awami League government on 5 August 2024 following the student–people’s uprising, Sheikh Hasina fled to India. Her sister Sheikh Rehana also went with her at that time. Tulip remained in the United Kingdom.

Showing them as “absconding,” the trial of the case continued. As a result, no lawyer had the opportunity to conduct the case on their behalf.

Five top lawyers in the United Kingdom recently wrote a letter to the Bangladeshi High Commissioner in the UK strongly criticizing the trial process.

The letter stated that former UK junior minister Tulip Siddiq was not given “even the minimum rights” to fight the case; she received neither a proper understanding of the charges nor the opportunity to appoint a lawyer—“she received nothing.”

The letter also alleged that the lawyer whom Tulip wanted to appoint in Bangladesh was “forced to step aside and placed under house arrest, and his daughter was also threatened.”

In Monday’s judgment observations, Judge Robiul Alam said, “Since they are citizens of Bangladesh, there is no legal barrier to trying the accused no matter where in the world they reside. Only in cases involving capital punishment is there a provision to appoint state defense (state-appointed) lawyers for absconding accused.”

“As this case does not include any charges under sections carrying the death penalty, there is no scope for appointing defense lawyers for the accused.”

Amid criticism following reports that after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government she had received a flat worth 700,000 pounds in London as a “gift” from a developer close to the Awami League, Tulip Siddiq resigned from her position as the UK City Minister last January.

Earlier, immediately after the fall of the Awami League, Tulip’s name also surfaced in allegations of corruption in the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant project. The issue caused an uproar in the British media at the time. Following that, intense discussion began regarding the “gifted” flats received by Tulip and her sister.

Tulip Siddiq transferred to her sister Rukuntie in 2015 a Gulshan flat she had inherited from her parents. But the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has said that the notary used in that transfer was proven “fake” during investigation.

In response to the arrest warrant issued against Tulip in the ACC’s case over alleged irregularities in plot allocation in Purbachal, her lawyers claimed last April that although the ACC said it had conducted the investigation “on the basis of authentic documents,” it presented no authentic documents.

They also said that the ACC did not “respond” to attempts to communicate, and that this violated Tulip’s “fundamental right to fair justice,” according to the Labour MP’s lawyers.

On the other hand, ACC Chairman Mohammad Abdul Momen had then said, if Tulip was innocent, why did she resign?

“Why did she ask her lawyers to contact the ACC? The ACC has requested her lawyer via email to take part in the legal proceedings of this case in Bangladesh.”

In mid-last year, the Labour Party formed government in the United Kingdom with a landslide victory, in which Tulip Siddiq—an MP for four consecutive terms—was appointed Minister for Financial Services.

Tulip, daughter of Sheikh Rehana, youngest daughter of Bangabandhu, and Shafiq Siddiq, was first elected MP in 2015. Later she was re-elected in 2017 and 2019.

Born in Mitcham, London, Tulip spent her childhood in Bangladesh, India, and Singapore. She holds a postgraduate degree in Politics, Policy and Government from King’s College London.