Labour MP Tulip Siddiq has been sentenced to two years in prison in Bangladesh after a corruption trial held in her absence.
Siddiq, the niece of former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina, was found guilty of influencing her aunt to secure a plot of land for her family in a government project.
Hasina, who was ousted in August last year, was sentenced to five years in prison.
The verdict comes two weeks after Hasina was sentenced to death in a separate trial in November over her role in a crackdown against protests that ended her 15-year rule last year. She fled to India before she could be arrested.
Siddiq, the sitting MP for Hampstead and Highgate in London, was tried in her absence and had earlier denied the allegations, claiming the trial was a farce built on “fabricated accusations and driven by a clear political vendetta.”
Rabiul Alam, the judge of Dhaka’s Special Judge’s Court, said Siddiq’s aunt, Hasina, misused her power as prime minister.
He also said Siddiq was guilty of corruptly influencing her aunt in helping her mother get a piece of land in a government project.
Siddiq’s mother, Sheikh Rehana, was given seven years in prison and was reportedly considered the prime participant in the case.
The three women are out of the country and were tried in absentia.
Siddiq’s lawyers have called the charges baseless and politically motivated.
She previously told The Guardian the charges against her were “completely absurd” and asserted she was “collateral damage” in the longstanding feud between her aunt and Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus.
The UK does not have an extradition treaty in place with Bangladesh.
In January, Siddiq resigned as a government minister under pressure because of her ties to her aunt.
The Labour MP resigned from her ministerial job in the Treasury earlier this year following an investigation by the Prime Minister’s ethics adviser into her links to Hasina’s regime, which was overthrown last year.
She came under scrutiny over her use of properties in London linked to her aunt’s allies.
Although Sir Laurie Magnus concluded that Siddiq had not breached the Ministerial Code, he advised Sir Keir Starmer to reconsider her responsibilities.
Siddiq chose to resign, saying she had become “a distraction” from the government’s agenda.
Ousted prime minister Hasina lives in exile in India, and all of her trials have been conducted in her absence.
Rehana is staying outside Bangladesh, and Siddiq’s two siblings are also abroad as they face other charges involving last year’s uprising.
In three separate cases involving the same township project, a separate court on November 27 sentenced Hasina to 21 years in jail. Hasina’s son and daughter were also sentenced to five years in jail each by the court in that case.
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