Shabana Mahmood is currently set to decide whether fellow Labour MP Tulip Siddiq can be extradited to Bangladesh to serve a four-year prison sentence. Or risk a diplomatic incident…
Following historic elections in the country the man set to become Bangladesh’s foreign minister has told the Independent that the new government will seek extradition. Humayun Kabir – a foreign affairs adviser to PM-elect Tarique Rahman and tipped to be the new foreign minister – described Siddiq as a “convicted criminal” and “an embarrassment” to the UK government. He added:
“So we expect the UK government will sternly deal with all those Awami League criminals and terrorists on UK soil who try to terrorise and destabilise Bangladesh using money laundering activities. And we will provide a list to the British government… We want them back. And in terms of extradition, we would want the UK to track these criminals. If we are going to be a strong partner with the UK on dealing with illegal migration, why can’t the UK be any different in dealing with criminals that have fled to the UK territory from Bangladesh?”
Bangladesh is classed by Britain as a Category 2 Type B country for extradition. This is the process for those:
Siddiq has always denied all wrongdoing. This means that at three stages a decision will have to be made by Shabana Mahmood – if she is still Home Secretary at the time – with regard to Siddiq if an extradition request is made. Downing Street has always refused to say if the government will comply with an extradition request…
When this issue last came up Starmer refused to meet Bangladesh’s leader on his visit to London while the Labour Party attacked the judicial process applied to Tulip Siddiq in strong terms. Starmer met Bangladesh’s ousted dictator Sheikh Hasina, who is Tulip’s aunt, several times…
The likely outcome is that British diplomats are instructed by Labour to expend significant political capital to try to make the Tulip issue go away with their Bangladeshi counterparts. Even then the new BNP government may demand their judicial process is followed to its conclusion…
Starmer was read out a list of his 13 U-turns on BBC Radio 2, to which he responded:
“Well, I am a common sense merchant.”