Tulip Siddiq failed to speak out after being warned dozens of Bangladeshi citizens had been “disappeared” by her aunt’s authoritarian regime, The Telegraph can reveal.
The former anti-corruption minister was urged by voluntary group Maayer Daak in 2022 to use her familial connections to Sheikh Hasina, the then prime minister of Bangladesh, to help free 86 men allegedly held in “secret detention cells”.
Ms Siddiq, who resigned from Sir Keir Starmer’s Government yesterday, did forward the concerns on to a shadow minister, but did not raise it publicly or offer to contact her aunt or members of the ruling Awami League party.
Hasina was the longest-serving prime minister of Bangladesh and is now in India after being ousted last year after 15 years in power.
During her tenure, opponents and critics were arrested and secretly imprisoned. Some were even victims of extrajudicial killings.
Among those picked up was Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem, a British-trained barrister, who was secretly detained for eight years before being released the day after Hasina fled the country.
Ms Siddiq has previously been criticised for not raising his case publicly. His family have also said that after the Labour MP was asked about him in 2017 police turned up at his family home in Dhaka.
In December 2024, activists gathered in Dhaka, demanding Sheikh Hasina’s extradition, trial, and execution – Rubel Karmaker/Shutterstock
An email seen by The Telegraph shows that Ms Siddiq was also urged to intervene in the cases of dozens of other men who were disappeared by the regime.
In April 2022, Sanjida Islam from Maayer Daak, which means “Mother’s Call” and comprises families of the disappeared in Bangladesh, wrote that she was advocating for the release of those “secretly detained, outside the criminal justice system, by government authorities” including her brother.
She wrote: “Maayer Daak is seeking your assistance specifically in seeking the freedom of 86 men, identified by Human Rights Watch (HRW), who were picked up by Bangladesh law enforcement authorities over the last ten years, whose whereabouts remain unknown.
“One of these 86 men, Shajedul Islam Sumon, was my brother. Maayer Daak represents many of the families whose relatives are included in this list.
“These men were never arrested by Bangladesh authorities, never brought to court. They were instead picked up by law enforcement authorities and detained in, as far as we understand, secret detention cells. We are hoping that they remain alive.”
Sheikh Hasina was the longest-serving prime minister of Bangladesh, spending 15 years in power before being ousted – Indranil Mukherjee/AFP
Ms Siddiq was a prominent supporter of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, one of her constituents, who was detained in Iran and Ms Islam praised her efforts to free her.
However Ms Islam said the charity was not appealing to her as constituents but because she was “in a unique position to assist the families of the disappeared in Bangladesh”.
Ms Islam said that the Labour MP had a background in Amnesty International so she “must be against enforced disappearances in Bangladesh, or indeed anywhere else in the world”.
She added in an email that as a UK MP she had the “freedom to speak out and get yourself heard, and with access that most people do not have”.
The email continued: “You used to work for the Bangladesh Awami League, the ruling party in power, before you became a Labour party councillor, and continue (according to reports) to have a close connection with the party.
“Your family members hold senior positions of power within the country.”
Ms Islam urged Ms Siddiq to speak with her family and pressure them for the release of those detained.
She wrote: “In the context of Bangladesh politics and because of the role your family has within it, if you speak out on our behalf about the 86 disappeared men listed by Human Rights Watch this could have a dramatic impact in pressuring the Bangladesh government to come clean, provide information on our disappeared relatives and free them.
“We also believe that your personal intervention on this issue with members of your family within the Bangladesh government – as well as with others within the Bangladesh government and law enforcement authorities who look up to you – could also help with their release.”
The charity did not receive a reply until three weeks later when her office said that parliamentary protocol dictated that MPs can only write on behalf of constituents.
She added she would pass on the concerns to the opposition frontbench.
“However, I understand that this is a serious issue affecting your family so I will pass on your correspondence to the shadow minister in the Opposition frontbench who covers Bangladesh so that they can raise this issue with the UK Government.”
Sanjida’s brother was picked up in December 2013, along with four opposition activists, by members of the elite law enforcement agency, Rapid Action Battalion, outside a construction site in the capital city, Dhaka. 14 years later, their whereabouts continue to remain unknown.
A preliminary report from the Commission on Disappearances, set up by the new interim government in Bangladesh, stated that it held the then prime minister, “prima facie responsible for acts of enforced disappearance”.
The disclosure will put fresh pressure on Ms Siddiq to resign as an MP after she was forced to step aside as the economic secretary to the Treasury.
Ms Siddiq quit after Sir Keir Starmer’s ethics adviser found she had inadvertently misled the public.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, Ms Siddiq admitted becoming a “distraction” from the Government’s agenda as she faced mounting corruption allegations.
Her resignation followed weeks of controversy over her ties to the political party led by her aunt.
She quit hours after Sir Laurie Magnus, No 10’s ethics adviser, urged Sir Keir to “consider her ongoing responsibilities” in light of the perception of a conflict of interest.
Today it was reported Ms Siddiq was facing a third investigation in Bangladesh.
Investigators are reportedly working on another probe involving Ms Siddiq having already opened two investigations.
Akhtar Hossain, director general of the Anti-Corruption Commission, told Sky News the organisation was “preparing another investigation against Tulip Siddiq and her uncle Tarique Siddique for money laundering, power misuse, and illegally occupying Bangladesh government property”.
Ms Siddiq is already being investigated over her alleged involvement in the embezzlement of funds linked to a £4 billion nuclear deal and also over claims she used her “influence” to secure plots for her family in a redevelopment project.
Michael Polak, who represented Mr Bin Quasem, said it was “heartbreaking” that Ms Siddiq did not speak out publicly about those who disappeared.
He said enforced disappearances happened on a “huge scale” and were used “as a tool of oppression by the Hasina regime”.
Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem was secretly detained for eight years before being released the day before Sheikh Hasina fled the country – Indranil Mukherjee/AFP
Mr Polak said: “Anyone with any knowledge about Bangladesh would have known they were being carried out by the repressive authorities and Ms Siddiq was provided with the evidence and has stated that she previously worked for Amnesty.
“Although there were good news stories about some of the disappeared surviving for up to eight years in the black sites under torturous conditions, such as my client barrister Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem, there was also dismay for many families when their disappeared loved ones never re-appeared.
“It is heartbreaking that Tulip did not speak out publicly to support Maayer Daak when her influence in Bangladesh could have saved those who now will never return to their families.”
Labour sources said parliamentary protocol meant that MPs do not normally raise cases for non-constituents and this was applicable in this case.
It is understood a Foreign Office minister raised this issue with the Bangladeshi High Commission.