Some social media posts claim that Sheikh Rehana’s daughter and British MP Tulip Siddiq has been sentenced to 2 years in prison by a British court.
See Facebook posts with this claim here,here.
Fact Check
The Rumor Scanner Team’s investigation found that the claim of the British court sentencing Tulip Siddiq to two years in prison is incorrect. In fact, she was sentenced by a Bangladeshi court.
In the investigation, a review of the posts making the claim showed that they cited a news report from the British media outlet The Independent as their source. Upon reading thenews report from the outlet regarding this matter, it was revealed that a court in Bangladesh sentenced Labour MP Tulip Siddiq to two years in prison after being convicted of corruption in a state land scheme. Dhaka Special Judge’s Court convicted Ms. Siddiq of corruptly influencing the acquisition of land in a suburb of the Bangladeshi capital to assist her aunt, former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Thus, the report did not provide any information about a British court sentencing Tulip Siddiq.
Further investigation found a report from the Bangladeshi national daily Prothom Alo, which states that in the corruption case concerning the allotment of a Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) plot in the Purbachal New Town project, the court sentenced British MP Tulip Siddiq to 2 years, deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to 5 years, and her sister Sheikh Rehana to 7 years in prison. Along with the imprisonment, Tulip Siddiq was fined one lakh Taka, failing which she would serve six months of simple imprisonment, and Sheikh Rehana was also fined one lakh Taka. The other 14 defendants in the case were each sentenced to 5 years in prison. Judge Md. Rabiul Alam of Dhaka Special Judge’s Court-4 pronounced the verdict on December 01. They were convicted in a case filed against 17 people by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on January 13, on charges of corruption in the allotment of plots in the Purbachal New Town project.
Therefore, the news of Tulip Siddiq being sentenced by a Bangladeshi court has been circulated with the misleading claim that she was sentenced by a British court; which is misleading.
