Wednesday, 22 January, 2025
A man who was secretly detained for eight years under the regime of former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has alleged that Dhaka police raided his family home after British journalists questioned her niece, UK City Minister Tulip Siddiq, about his case.
Mir Ahmad bin Quasem told a UK-based daily that security personnel instructed his wife to “keep a low profile” and halt any media engagement just hours before Channel 4 News aired footage of its journalists confronting Siddiq.
“Tulip being challenged on this issue resonated within the Sheikh dynasty,” said Quasem, who was held in a secret Bangladeshi prison without trial from 2016 to 2024. “I believe this prompted the administration’s knee-jerk reaction.”
On the morning of Saturday, November 25, 2017, Channel 4 News journalists approached Siddiq in London, urging her to intervene in Quasem’s case by stating, “With one phone call, you could make a huge difference.”
In the footage, Siddiq cautioned the journalists, saying, “Be very careful what you’re saying. I’m a British MP,” and rejected suggestions that she held influence as a Bangladeshi politician. The segment aired three days later, on the evening of November 28.
According to Quasem, just hours before the broadcast, security personnel, including members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB)—a Bangladeshi police unit frequently accused of human rights abuses—surrounded his family home. Almost a dozen armed officers allegedly entered the property and demanded details of his wife’s overseas contacts. “It felt like they were hunting a terrorist,” Quasem recounted.
Quasem, a British-trained lawyer, was initially detained in 2016 while serving on the legal team defending his father, an Islamist party leader in Bangladesh. He was held in the regime’s infamous “House of Mirrors” prison, so named because detainees were kept in isolation for years.
Describing his ordeal as “worse than death,” Quasem revealed he was handcuffed and denied sunlight throughout his detention. His release on August 6, 2024, came less than 24 hours after Sheikh Hasina’s government was ousted from power.
Michael Polok, Quasem’s UK-based lawyer, said he believes the raid was an intimidation tactic aimed at pressuring Quasem’s family to convince Channel 4 News to drop its story.
“This is a case where a British MP is being legitimately questioned about a serious issue, and the response is threats from a security body notorious for disappearances, torture, and killings,” Polok said.
Protesters in the Bangladesh capital Dhaka celebrate the resignation of then prime minister Sheikh Hasina last August © Fatima Tuj Johora/AP
The Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate, Tulip Siddiq, has also resided in properties linked to influential figures within the party, including her current home in East Finchley. Siddiq, who was appointed City Minister last year, referred herself to the government’s adviser on ministerial standards on Monday regarding her property holdings, asserting that she had “done nothing wrong.”
Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s International Criminal Tribunal issued arrest warrants on Monday for Sheikh Hasina and 11 senior officials from her administration over their alleged involvement in enforced disappearances.
A preliminary report released last month by an inquiry commission established by Bangladesh’s transitional government accuses Siddiq’s aunt, Sheikh Hasina, of direct involvement in the forced disappearance of thousands of individuals.
Images of the ‘House of Mirrors’ prison in Bangladesh
Tulip Siddiq, who is tasked with tackling illicit finance in the UK, was named in a recent investigation by Bangladesh's Anti-Corruption Commission. The probe was prompted by allegations from a political rival of Sheikh Hasina, who accused Siddiq and her relatives of receiving a share of profits from a Russia-backed nuclear power project.
The investigation follows accusations that Sheikh Hasina’s family, including Siddiq, benefited from the project’s finances.
Sheikh Hasina’s family has also faced claims of embezzling funds from Bangladesh’s banking system, although they have denied these allegations. Sajeeb Wazed, Sheikh Hasina’s son and adviser, told Reuters last month: “It’s not possible to siphon off billions from a $10bn project. We don’t have offshore accounts. I’ve been living in the US for 30 years, and my aunt and cousins have been in the UK for the same length of time. We have accounts here, but none of us have ever seen that kind of money.”
The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), a police unit implicated in extrajudicial killings and disappearances, was sanctioned by the US in 2021. Following the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government, the RAB is now under new leadership, and a new law is being drafted to regulate its operations.
Mir Ahmad bin Quasem, who described his time in prison as having left him “physically frail and psychologically traumatized,” called on UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to “seriously reconsider whether Siddiq is fit for the responsibility bestowed upon her.” Siddiq issued an apology after the airing of a Channel 4 News report that featured her response to one of the program’s journalists.
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A man who was secretly detained for eight years under the regime of former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has alleged that Dhaka police raided his family home after British journalists questioned her niece, UK City Minister Tulip Siddiq, about his case.
Mir Ahmad bin Quasem told a UK-based daily that security personnel instructed his wife to “keep a low profile” and halt any media engagement just hours before Channel 4 News aired footage of its journalists confronting Siddiq.
“Tulip being challenged on this issue resonated within the Sheikh dynasty,” said Quasem, who was held in a secret Bangladeshi prison without trial from 2016 to 2024. “I believe this prompted the administration’s knee-jerk reaction.”
On the morning of Saturday, November 25, 2017, Channel 4 News journalists approached Siddiq in London, urging her to intervene in Quasem’s case by stating, “With one phone call, you could make a huge difference.”
In the footage, Siddiq cautioned the journalists, saying, “Be very careful what you’re saying. I’m a British MP,” and rejected suggestions that she held influence as a Bangladeshi politician. The segment aired three days later, on the evening of November 28.
According to Quasem, just hours before the broadcast, security personnel, including members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB)—a Bangladeshi police unit frequently accused of human rights abuses—surrounded his family home. Almost a dozen armed officers allegedly entered the property and demanded details of his wife’s overseas contacts. “It felt like they were hunting a terrorist,” Quasem recounted.
Quasem, a British-trained lawyer, was initially detained in 2016 while serving on the legal team defending his father, an Islamist party leader in Bangladesh. He was held in the regime’s infamous “House of Mirrors” prison, so named because detainees were kept in isolation for years.
Describing his ordeal as “worse than death,” Quasem revealed he was handcuffed and denied sunlight throughout his detention. His release on August 6, 2024, came less than 24 hours after Sheikh Hasina’s government was ousted from power.
Michael Polok, Quasem’s UK-based lawyer, said he believes the raid was an intimidation tactic aimed at pressuring Quasem’s family to convince Channel 4 News to drop its story.
“This is a case where a British MP is being legitimately questioned about a serious issue, and the response is threats from a security body notorious for disappearances, torture, and killings,” Polok said.
Protesters in the Bangladesh capital Dhaka celebrate the resignation of then prime minister Sheikh Hasina last August © Fatima Tuj Johora/AP
The Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate, Tulip Siddiq, has also resided in properties linked to influential figures within the party, including her current home in East Finchley. Siddiq, who was appointed City Minister last year, referred herself to the government’s adviser on ministerial standards on Monday regarding her property holdings, asserting that she had “done nothing wrong.”
Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s International Criminal Tribunal issued arrest warrants on Monday for Sheikh Hasina and 11 senior officials from her administration over their alleged involvement in enforced disappearances.
A preliminary report released last month by an inquiry commission established by Bangladesh’s transitional government accuses Siddiq’s aunt, Sheikh Hasina, of direct involvement in the forced disappearance of thousands of individuals.
Images of the ‘House of Mirrors’ prison in Bangladesh
Tulip Siddiq, who is tasked with tackling illicit finance in the UK, was named in a recent investigation by Bangladesh's Anti-Corruption Commission. The probe was prompted by allegations from a political rival of Sheikh Hasina, who accused Siddiq and her relatives of receiving a share of profits from a Russia-backed nuclear power project.
The investigation follows accusations that Sheikh Hasina’s family, including Siddiq, benefited from the project’s finances.
Sheikh Hasina’s family has also faced claims of embezzling funds from Bangladesh’s banking system, although they have denied these allegations. Sajeeb Wazed, Sheikh Hasina’s son and adviser, told Reuters last month: “It’s not possible to siphon off billions from a $10bn project. We don’t have offshore accounts. I’ve been living in the US for 30 years, and my aunt and cousins have been in the UK for the same length of time. We have accounts here, but none of us have ever seen that kind of money.”
The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), a police unit implicated in extrajudicial killings and disappearances, was sanctioned by the US in 2021. Following the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government, the RAB is now under new leadership, and a new law is being drafted to regulate its operations.
Mir Ahmad bin Quasem, who described his time in prison as having left him “physically frail and psychologically traumatized,” called on UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to “seriously reconsider whether Siddiq is fit for the responsibility bestowed upon her.” Siddiq issued an apology after the airing of a Channel 4 News report that featured her response to one of the program’s journalists.
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