Bangladesh court orders Interpol red notice for arrest of Labour MP Tulip Siddiq

A Bangladeshi court has ordered the issuance of an Interpol red notice for the arrest of Tulip Siddiq, a British lawmaker, over corruption charges. 

Muhammad Sabbir Foyez, a senior judge in Dhaka, issued the order on Thursday following an application from the country’s anti-corruption commission, local media reported. 

Siddiq is the Labour member of parliament for Hampstead and Highgate in London, and a former Treasury minister. 

She is also the niece of Sheikh Hasina, the former longtime prime minister of Bangladesh whose government was overthrown by a mass student-led uprising in August 2024. 

The anti-corruption commission said that Siddiq used her family connections with Hasina to influence the awarding of land in the upmarket Gulshan area of the Bangladeshi capital. 

Siddiq has been sentenced to a total of six years in jail in absentia in three other corruption cases. 

She rejects all allegations against her, and previously described proceedings against her as “flawed and farcical from beginning to end”. 

Middle East Eye has reached out to her for comment on the Interpol red notice. 

Corruption allegations

A spokesperson for Labour previously told MEE: “As has been reported, highly regarded senior legal professionals have highlighted that 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.”

They said that despite repeated requests, her legal team was not able to make representations when allegations were brought against her.

“Given that has not happened in this case, we cannot recognise this judgement,” the spokesperson added.

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Siddiq resigned from her post as Treasury minister in January 2025 amid the corruption allegations. 

She said at the time that she had been cleared of wrongdoing but that the issue had become a “distraction from the work of the government”. 

Siddiq’s aunt Hasina has been in exile in India since her overthrow. 

Three days after her government was toppled, Mohammad Yunus, a Nobel Peace laureate, took charge as interim leader of the country.

In November, a court sentenced Hasina to death in absentia over crimes against humanity for ordering a deadly crackdown on student-led protesters.

Her second stint as prime minister, from 2009 until 2024, was marred by arrests of political opponents, the silencing of dissenting voices and accusations of human rights abuses. 

Earlier this month, the Bangladeshi National Party (BNP) decisively won what was considered Bangladesh’s first free and fair general election in nearly two decades. 

Tarique Rahman - the son of Khaleda Zia, the former prime minister, and Ziaur Rahman, the assassinated former president - was sworn in as the new premier on 17 February.