Latest news with #TulipSiddiq
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Tulip Siddiq's aunt is charged with crimes against humanity in Bangladesh 'for her involvement in mass killings'
The aunt of Labour MP Tulip Siddiq has been charged with crimes against humanity for allegedly participating in mass killings during anti-government protests in Bangladesh. Arrest warrants have been issued for both the ousted Bangladeshi prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, and former interior minister Asaduzzaman Khan, who are understood to be in India. Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun, former police chief, has been arrested. It comes after Ms Hasina fled to India following student-led protests, which later became an anti-government uprising, saw the end of her 15-year rule in the South Asian state last August. According to the UN, as many as 1,400 people are believed to have been killed during protests last Summer after her Awami League government clamped down on marchers in Dhaka. Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) said the autocratic ruler 'directly' instructed state security forces, her party as well as its associates to implement actions that led to mass killings and injuries. They also allege such operations saw targeted violence against women and children, wounded being denied medical treatment, and bodies being burnt. In an investigative report last May, the 77-year-old was named as a 'mastermind, conductor and superior commander' of the brutalities against protesters. The authoritarian leader provoked violence during a press conference at Ganabhaban on July 14, according to charges. One of the charges says Ms Hasina reportedly ordered for protesters to be killed using, lethal weapons, helicopters, and drones. Another alleges under similar instructions, officers shot and burned six unarmed protesters in the Bangladeshi capital on August 5, 2024. Manynul Karim, the International Crimes Tribunal prosecutor, claimed to the Telegraph: 'Eyewitness testified that a young protester among them was burned alive after being shot and left wounded. He was still alive as the bodies burned.' The charges part of a wider probe against Ms Hasina, whose premiership saw allegations of election-rigging to maintain her grip on the state, as well as accusations of human rights violations. The alleged human rights violations facing the 77-year-old include torture, extensive arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial executions as well as enforced disappearances of adults and children. 'We have strong evidence, including telephonic conversations, that Hasina, under her superior command responsibility, ordered crimes against humanity, including murder of students,' Mr Karim told the publication. 'If proven guilty, she will face capital punishment. If she doesn't join the trial, it will be presumed that she is involved in the crimes against humanity, and the court might start a trial in absentia.' Ms Hasina has not yet answered the charges placed against her, but if found guilty she could face a death sentence for the alleged crimes. A diplomatic row is currently brewing between India and Bangladesh after India confirmed they had received communication regarding Ms Hasina's extradition but had declined to comment further. It comes after the country's Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has launched a larger probe into the reported illegal allocation of state-owned land and property by Ms Hasina to her children as well as family, which includes former Labour MP, Ms Siddiq. The investigation also involves claims Ms Siddiq and four family members embezzled £4 billion through a nuclear powerplant deal struck with Russia, Ms Siddiq resigned as City minister in January – after a corruption probe into her family had begun. Her family deny all the charges against them. Earlier this year, her lawyers sent a letter to the ACC accusing it of launching 'targeted and baseless' investigations into her, claiming the corruption allegations against their client are 'false and vexatious.' £90 million worth of properties tied to the ex Bangladeshi regime have since been frozen by the National Crime Agency (NCA) in the UK.
Telegraph
4 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Tulip Siddiq's aunt charged with crimes against humanity in Bangladesh
Sheikh Hasina, the ousted Bangladesh prime minister and the aunt of Labour MP Tulip Siddiq, has been charged with crimes against humanity for her alleged involvement in mass killings during anti-government protests. Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal has issued arrest warrants for Ms Hasina and Asaduzzaman Khan, the former interior minister, who are both believed to be in India. Former police chief, Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun, has been arrested. According to the charges, the autocratic former leader was directly responsible for ordering all state forces, her Awami League party and its associates to carry out actions that led to mass killings, injuries, targeted violence against women and children, the incineration of bodies and denial of medical treatment to the wounded. The charges describe 77-year-old Ms Hasina as the 'mastermind, conductor, and superior commander' of the atrocities. She has not yet responded to the charges. If proven guilty, she could face capital punishment. Ms Hasina fled to India in August last year as student-led protesters brought down her 15-year rule. Her premiership was marked by widespread accusations of election-rigging to maintain her hold on power and human rights violations such as extrajudicial killing, extensive arbitrary arrests, torture and enforced disappearances, including of children. The UN human rights office has estimated that up to 1,400 protesters may have been killed in Hasina's crackdown to crush the uprising. Bangladesh has demanded that India hands her over. Last year, India confirmed receiving a diplomatic communication for her extradition from Dhaka, but it has refused to comment further, triggering a diplomatic row between the two countries. The three-member tribunal, headed by Justice Mohammad Golam Mortuza Mozumder in a live trial proceedings, a first in Bangladesh, has ordered the prosecution to file a progress report on efforts to arrest Hasina and Asaduzzaman on June 16. According to the charges, Hasina incited violence during a press conference at Ganabhaban on July 14. Under her direction, law enforcement agencies carried out systematic and widespread attacks on protesters, Maynul Karim, the International Crimes Tribunal prosecutor, told The Telegraph. 'The attacks involved murder, attempted murder, torture, and other inhumane acts,' Mr Karim said. In one charge, Mr Karim said Hasina ordered the extermination of protesters using helicopters, drones, and lethal weapons, orders that Khan and Mamun allegedly executed by commanding security forces. Another charge states that, on Aug 5 last year, under similar orders, law enforcement officers shot six unarmed protesters and subsequently burned them in Dhaka's Ashulia area. Police poured petrol over the bodies and set them ablaze. 'Eyewitness testified that a young protester among them was burned alive after being shot and left wounded. He was still alive as the bodies burned,' Mr Karim claimed. The incident forms part of wider charges filed against Hasina. The charges stem from a May 12 investigative report that named her as the 'mastermind, conductor, and superior commander' behind the deadly attacks on protesters. 'We have strong evidence, including telephonic conversations, that Hasina, under her superior command responsibility, ordered crimes against humanity, including murder of students,' Mr Karim said. 'If proven guilty, she will face capital punishment. 'If she doesn't join the trial, it will be presumed that she is involved in the crimes against humanity, and the court might start a trial in absentia.' Bangladesh's Anti-Corruption Commission is holding a wider investigation into the alleged unlawful allocation of state-owned land and apartments to Ms Hasina, her children, and close relatives, including Ms Siddiq. The case also involves a $4 billion (£2.9 billion) embezzlement investigation by the commission into a nuclear deal struck by Ms Hasina, in which Ms Siddiq had also been named, with Russia. Ms Siddiq, who resigned from the UK Government in January amid scrutiny of her links to Ms Hasina, has been named in multiple Bangladeshi inquiries for illegally acquiring plots and apartments. She has denied the charges and accused the Bangladeshi government of a 'targeted and baseless' campaign against her and asked why it had briefed the media but not put its allegations to her directly. The UK's National Crime Authority has frozen £90 million worth properties linked to the former Bangladesh regime.
Daily Mail
25-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
National Crime Agency obtains asset-freezing order to stop future sale of home belonging to mother of ex-City Minister Tulip Siddiq
The National Crime Agency has taken the first step in Britain in a corruption case embroiling ex-City minister Tulip Siddiq, by freezing any future sale of her mother's home. The agency – hailed as Britain's FBI – last night confirmed obtaining an asset-freezing order on the luxury property in Golders Green, North London, which has been the Siddiq clan's main home for 14 years. Hampstead Labour MP Ms Siddiq's mother Rehana, 69, has been living there since it was bought in 2011 for £1.2 million. The home, registered in the Isle of Man tax haven, was bought by millionaire Ahmed Shayan Rahman, 42. He was a chairman of the British Asian Trust, a charity founded by King Charles. Last night the trust said he has stood down over the NCA probe. Mr Rahman's father Salman, 74, was a minister for prime minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed, the aunt of Ms Siddiq, 42, who was ousted from power last year after weeks of violent protests. The freezing order is part of the NCA's investigation into suspected corruption and money-laundering. Bangladesh is probing claims Ms Siddiq and family members siphoned nearly £4 billion from a nuclear plant deal with a Russian company. Ms Siddiq denies any wrongdoing. She quit as City minister in January after a standards investigation into properties she owned or lived in which were given to her family by her aunt's allies in Bangladesh.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
UK Government Targets Exchanges and Stablecoins With New Draft Crypto Rules
The U.K. government released its consultation papers on draft legislation for the crypto sector. "This will see the creation of new regulated activities such as operating a cryptoasset trading exchange and stablecoin issuance, as well as market abuse and admissions and disclosures regimes," the Governments website said on Tuesday. The country launched a consultation on the crypto regime when the Conservatives were still in power in 2023, despite Labour coming into power last year, its former Economic Secretary Tulip Siddiq said that the Government intended to ensure that most of all the previous governments crypto plans will be in to access your portfolio
Spectator
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Spectator
Siddiq hits back at Bangladesh over arrest warrant
Back to the curious case of Tulip Siddiq, Labour's former anti-corruption minister who has been issued with an arrest warrant by Bangladesh over, um, corruption. Earlier this month, the Hampstead and Highgate MP was slapped with the warrant after the country's Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) submitted a criminal charge sheet against the politician over investigations involving her aunt, and Bangladesh's recently deposed prime minister, Sheikh Hasina. Now Siddiq's lawyers have pushed back, accusing the country's authorities of failing to uphold the MP's 'fundamental right to justice'. And so it rumbles on… Siddiq's legal representatives blasted Bangladesh's ACC for having 'failed to provide a single piece of documentary evidence' against her after they filed a request for it last month. The development comes after prosecutors ordered the ex-Labour minister to appear before Dhaka's Senior Special Judges' Court by 27 April – while her non-attendance could prompt the Bangladeshi authorities to seek Siddiq's extradition from Britain.
