The Bangladesh Anti-Corruption Commission has threatened Tulip Siddiq with an Interpol Red Notice this week if she doesn’t show her face in court:
“Now, if the accused Ms. Siddiq does not turn up and surrender before the court, ACC will follow the global practice of taking assistance from Interpol through Bangladesh Police and Ministry of Home. Britain has been a very respected member of Interpol since 1928. Because of non-appearance, the accused would be treated as [a] criminal absconder. Bangladesh, also a member of Interpol, will ask to issue a red alert. The responsibility of the host country of the criminal absconder is to make sure that the accused is arrested and extradited following standard legal procedures.”
Siddiq denies all wrongdoing. If 27 April passes without Tulip’s arrival her trial can begin without her. A Red Notice is an international request for location and arrest of a concerned party prior to their extradition. Bangladesh is classed by the UK as a Category 2 Type B country for extradition. This is the process for those:
This means that at three stages a decision will have to be made by Yvette Cooper with regard to Siddiq if an extradition request is made. The US has stated Siddiq is a matter for the UK and Bangladesh. This is an unprecedented case and could be extremely tricky for Labour if it goes so far. Downing Street has so far refused to say whether they would honour a request. Cooper may wish to find some means of recusing herself…
Siddiq’s lawyers say: ‘The ACC has made various allegations against Ms Siddiq through the media in the last few months. The allegations are completely false and have been dealt with in writing by Ms Siddiq’s lawyers.” Tulip herself calls it a ‘trial by media’…
Statement by Paul Dacre, Editor-in-Chief of Associated Newspapers Limited, following Harry’s loss in court today:
“Prince Harry wrote a sad book which boasted about his killing of 25 Taliban, his drug-taking and, in cringe-making detail, how he lost his virginity. There isn’t a laundry in the cosmos big enough to wash all the dirty linen he has aired about his own family. For him, to complain about HIS privacy being invaded takes, not just the biscuit, but the whole tin. Poor Harry. I feel sorry for the way a confused and angry young man has been drawn into this case. The bitter irony is that his mother, Diana, liked the Mail. We were her paper. We took her side in her acrimonious break up with Charles. She and I would speak and meet. The Mail’s superb royal reporter was her friend and confidante. The truth is that this trumped-up action – which has cost well over £50 million and wasted a huge amount of valuable court time – should never have been brought to trial. That it did, raises profoundly disturbing questions about the conduct of elements of the legal profession. Today’s verdict is not just a victory for Associated’s magnificent journalists – several of whom have had a terrible toll imposed on their health and lives – but a free press generally. Make no mistake. This was a conspiracy, supported by Hacked Off, to destroy a paper. Financed by the orgy-loving, racist Max Mosley and involving the actor Hugh Grant, it was also a sinister bid to resuscitate Leveson Two and impose statutory regulation on the press which, even now, is rearing its ugly head in Labour’s Media Green Paper.”