‘Flawed and farcical’: Sheikh Hasina’s niece and UK MP Tulip Siddiq slams Bangladesh court after in-absentia jail sentence

British MP Tulip Siddiq has condemned a Bangladeshi court decision sentencing her in absentia to two years in prison, calling the proceedings “flawed and farcical” and urging that the verdict be treated with contempt.

“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,” The Guardian quoted Siddiq as saying on Monday.

Siddiq — a niece of former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina — resigned as the UK’s minister for financial services and anti-corruption in January amid scrutiny over her financial links to Hasina, though she remains a sitting MP.

On Monday, a court in Bangladesh ruled  that Siddiq was complicit in corrupt land deals involving her aunt, the country’s deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

The judge found Siddiq, the Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate, guilty of misusing her “special influence” as a British politician to pressure Hasina into granting valuable plots of land to Siddiq’s mother, brother and sister.

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Siddiq’s mother, Sheikh Rehana, was sentenced to seven years in prison and identified as the primary participant in the case. The trial was conducted entirely in absentia and neither Hasina, Siddiq, Rehana nor more than a dozen other family members accused in the case were present when the verdict was delivered.

Siddiq has previously dismissed the allegations as a “politically motivated smear”.

The UK does not have an extradition treaty with Bangladesh, making it unlikely Siddiq will serve the sentence.

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The Labour party said it did not recognise the corruption judgment because Siddiq had been denied a fair legal process.

Siddiq had denied the charges throughout the proceedings, arguing that much of the prosecution’s evidence was forged. She was tried as a Bangladeshi citizen using a passport and tax ID, despite saying she had not held a Bangladeshi passport since childhood and had never paid taxes in the country.

During the trial, prosecutor Khan Mohammed Mainul Hasan alleged that Siddiq had called and messaged senior aides in Hasina’s office and had visited Dhaka to secure land for family members in a suburb of the capital.

No phone records or messages were presented and prosecutors said the claims were based on testimony from two officials who worked at the prime minister’s residence at the time.

With inputs from agencies