Posted by Labour MP and former minister Tulip Siddiq has been sentenced to two years in prison in Bangladesh after being put on trial in her absence alongside 16 other people over corruption allegations.
She was found guilty of influencing her aunt, Bangladesh’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, to secure a plot of land for her family in the outskirts of the capital Dhaka, a claim she strongly denies.
Siddiq, who is based in London and has rejected the charges, is unlikely to serve the sentence.
The Labour MP said the process had been “flawed and farcical from the beginning to the end”.
“I’m absolutely baffled by the whole thing – I’ve still had no contact whatsoever from the Bangladeshi authorities despite them spreading malicious allegations about me for a year-and-a-half now,” she said.
“There’s been absolutely no summons sent to me, there’s no charge sheet, I’ve had no correspondence from them – I’m not difficult to find, I’m a parliamentarian.”
She said she had engaged lawyers in the UK and Bangladesh.
“I feel like I’m in some sort of Kafkaesque nightmare,” she added.
“The only reason I know I’m being convicted is because I read it in the newspapers. So this is trial by media, which is deeply unfair.”
Since Hasina’s regime was overturned, prosecutors in Bangladesh have launched a number of wide-ranging legal cases against the former leader, her past associates and family members.
The trial involving Siddiq – who quit as a Treasury minister in January over controversy around her ties to her aunt – has been playing out in Dhaka since August.
Siddiq continues to face a number of outstanding charges.
Court documents included claims that Siddiq “forced and influenced her aunt and the former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina using her special power to secure [a plot of land] for her mother Rehana Siddiq, sister Azmina Siddiq and brother Radwan Siddiq”.
A prosecutor for Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) previously said Siddiq was tried as a Bangladeshi citizen as authorities had obtained her Bangladeshi passport, ID and tax number.
Siddiq’s lawyers have disputed she is a Bangladeshi citizen, telling the Financial Times she has “never had” an ID card or voter ID, and “has not held a passport since she was a child”.
She was sentenced by Judge Rabiul Alam to two years in prison and a 100,000 Bangladeshi Taka fine ($821; £620). If she fails to pay, six months will be added to the sentence.
When the trial began, the MP said prosecutors had “peddled false and vexatious allegations that have been briefed to the media but never formally put to me by investigators”.
A statement on her behalf continued: “I have been clear from the outset that I have done nothing wrong and will respond to any credible evidence that is presented to me. Continuing to smear my name to score political points is both baseless and damaging.”
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