Tulip Siddiq can’t turn her back on Bangladeshi politics now
A Bangladeshi court sentenced the Labour MP Tulip Siddiq to two years in prison in absentia on Monday. Siddiq, who stepped down as anti-corruption minister earlier this year, has been found guilty of ‘influencing’ her aunt, the former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina, to secure a plot of valuable piece of land for her family outside Dhaka. Hasina was pushed out of power following massive demonstrators last year and has since been sentenced to death by Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal. She is currently living in exile in India.
It does appear that Siddiq is now complaining about the very forces in Bangladesh that propelled her to power in the first place
Siddiq strongly denies the corruption charges and claims the evidence against her has been forged. On Monday, she said the verdict should be treated with ‘contempt’ and had been delivered by a ‘kangaroo court’. Indeed, there are grounds to believe that Sheikh Hasina, her aides and her family are being politically pursued by the Mohammad Yunus-led interim government.
It does appear though that Siddiq is now complaining about the very forces in Bangladesh that propelled her to power in the first place.
While campaigning to be elected to Camden council in the late 2000s, Siddiq © The Spectator





















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