A court in Bangladesh has ordered officials to request an Interpol red notice for British Labour MP Tulip Siddiq over a corruption case involving the allocation of government land in Dhaka. The anti-corruption commission alleges Siddiq used her relationship with her aunt, former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, to influence the allocation of state-owned land to a private company. Siddiq has rejected the claims as baseless and politically motivated.
Siddiq, the MP for Hampstead and Highgate, was convicted in absentia last year and sentenced to two years in prison. She faces a combined six-year sentence across multiple cases involving her aunt and other family members. She has denied the charges, claiming much of the evidence was forged.
Red notices are requests to police forces worldwide, not international arrest warrants, and individual countries decide whether to enforce them. The UK does not have an extradition treaty with Bangladesh, complicating any attempt to return Siddiq. Any Interpol request would be subject to review, and the absence of an extradition framework means no immediate enforcement pathway exists.
Leading British lawyers, including former justice secretary Robert Buckland KC and former attorney general Dominic Grieve, have criticised the trial for due-process concerns. They wrote to Bangladesh's high commissioner, stating Siddiq was denied basic rights, including access to legal representation, and that her instructed lawyer was put under house arrest and faced threats.
The interim government in Bangladesh has prioritised legal action against Hasina and senior figures from her former government over alleged corruption and human rights abuses. Hasina has been in exile in India since August, and Bangladesh's extradition requests for her remain unanswered.
