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MP to face verdict in trial over corruption accusations
01st December, 2025 10:07 AM
Labour Member of Parliament (MP) Tulip Siddiq will learn her fate in a corruption trial in Bangladesh linked to her aunt, the country’s former prime minister.
Siddiq is accused of obtaining plots of land from her aunt in Dhaka’s diplomatic zone, through “abuse of power and influence”.
She is being tried in absentia with a verdict expected on Monday, December 1, 2025, morning.
Her aunt, Sheikh Hasina, was ousted in 2024 and has since been sentenced to death, although she fled to India before she could be arrested.
Siddiq, her niece, has described herself as “collateral damage” in the new government’s campaign against Sheikh Hasina.
She resigned her ministerial post earlier 2025, after she was accused of illegally receiving a plot of land from her aunt.
Although an investigation by the prime minister’s ethics adviser did not find “evidence of improprieties”, he said it was “regrettable” that Siddiq had not been more alert to the “potential reputational risks” of the ties to her aunt.
Last week, a group of prominent British lawyers and former cabinet ministers wrote an open letter raising “profound concerns” over Siddiq’s trial in Bangladesh.
Barrister Cherie Blair, who is married to ex-prime minister Tony Blair, Sir Robert Buckland, who served as justice secretary, and Dominic Grieve, an ex-attorney general, wrote that the criminal proceedings against Siddiq were “artificial and a contrived and unfair way of pursuing a prosecution”.
The lawyers wrote that Siddiq did not have a “proper opportunity of defending herself”.
“She is being tried in her absence without justification and… the proceedings fall far short of standards of fairness recognised internationally,” they said.
The letter was also signed by high-profile lawyers Philippe Sands and Geoffrey Robertson.
They called for the Bangladeshi authorities to put all the accusations to Siddiq’s lawyers “so that she has a fair opportunity to address them”.
Before Siddiq resigned from the British government, Prime Minister Keir Starmer‘s independent ethics adviser, Laurie Magnus, said he had not found “evidence of improprieties” following an investigation.
However, he said it was “regrettable” that Siddiq had not been more alert to the “potential reputational risks” of her ties to Hasina.
While Siddiq continued to insist she was not guilty of any wrongdoing, she quit her junior ministerial role in order not to be a “distraction” for the government.
The UK does not have an extradition treaty in place with Bangladesh. It is categorised as a 2B country, meaning clear evidence needs to be presented to lawyers and judges to authorise any extradition.
Siddiq was not compelled by authorities to return to Dhaka for the trial despite authorities there issuing an arrest warrant.
