Tulip Siddiq says Bangladesh jail term is 'unfair'

"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 jail term. 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."

Tulip Siddiq, a UK Labour MP and former minister, was convicted in absentia in Bangladesh and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for allegedly influencing former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to secure a land plot for family members, an allegation she denies. She is based in London and is unlikely to serve the sentence. Siddiq said the legal process was 'flawed and farcical' and that she had received no summons, charge sheet, or correspondence from Bangladeshi authorities despite persistent allegations. She said she engaged lawyers in both the UK and Bangladesh and described the situation as Kafkaesque. The conviction follows broader prosecutions targeting Hasina's associates since the regime change.

Read at www.bbc.com