Bangladesh’s newly elected government will call on the UK to extradite Labour MP Tulip Siddiq over alleged corruption, according to a senior aide to prime minister-in-waiting Tarique Rahman.
The former minister and Hampstead and Highgate MP was tried in absentia and sentenced to up to four years in prison by a Bangladeshi court, although the UK government has said it does not recognise the judgment.
Ms Siddiq was convicted along with her aunt, the ousted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, and other members of their family over a deal to acquire a plot of land in Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital. She denied any wrongdoing and said she was never told the details of the charges against her, calling it a “trial by media”.
But Humayun Kabir, the man tipped to be chosen by Mr Rahman as Bangladesh’s next foreign minister, said the new Bangladesh National Party (BNP) government elected this week would not give up trying to pursue justice for the corruption case against Ms Siddiq or Ms Hasina, who has separately been sentenced to death for committing crimes against humanity. Ms Hasina fled into exile in India after her government was toppled in 2024.
“They’re both convicted criminals now,” Mr Kabir told The Independent. “So the judicial process is transparently pursuing them.”
The UK has no extradition treaty with Bangladesh, making it highly unlikely that Ms Siddiq would be sent to Bangladesh to serve any sentence. Extradition deals can theoretically take place outside such an agreement, but even if it were legally possible, the Labour Party has strongly criticised the process under which Ms Siddiq was found guilty, saying it “cannot recognise this judgment”.
“Tulip Siddiq has not had access to a fair legal process in this case and has never been informed of the details of the charges against her,” the party said in a statement earlier this month when an additional corruption conviction was added to one handed down late last year.
“This is despite repeated requests made to the Bangladeshi authorities through her legal team. Anyone facing any charge should always be afforded the right to make legal representations when allegations are made against them. Given that has not happened in this case, we cannot recognise this judgment.”
Nonetheless, the case is likely to have major implications for relations between the UK and Bangladesh if Mr Kabir does become foreign minister. Mr Rahman is expected to take the oath as prime minister of Bangladesh on 17 February. His party won a landslide victory in the election held last Thursday, the first since Ms Hasina’s ousting.
“We will not interfere. We will let the judicial process decide their fate,” Mr Kabir, who is currently foreign affairs adviser to Mr Rahman, said when asked whether the new government would drop the cases against Ms Siddiq and Ms Hasina.
He called Ms Siddiq an “embarrassment” for Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government, adding that No 10 “needs to be clear” on its stance about criminals. “So we expect the UK government will sternly deal with all those Awami League [Ms Hasina’s party] criminals and terrorists on UK soil who try to terrorise and destabilise Bangladesh using money laundering activities. And we will provide a list to the British government.”
“We want them back,” he added. “And in terms of extradition, we would want the UK to track these criminals. If we are going to be a strong partner with the UK on dealing with illegal migration, why can’t the UK be any different in dealing with criminals that have fled to the UK territory from Bangladesh?”
Mr Kabir said the UK National Crime Agency freezing more than £170m in assets, including nearly 300 properties, linked to former Bangladeshi minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, was a welcome move. “But more needs to be done,” he said.
The Independent has reached out to Ms Siddiq for comment. She has previously called the trial “flawed and farcical from the beginning to the end”.
“The outcome of this kangaroo court is as predictable as it is unjustified. I hope this so-called ‘verdict’ will be treated with the contempt it deserves. My focus has always been my constituents in Hampstead and Highgate and I refuse to be distracted by the dirty politics of Bangladesh,” she has said.