The trial in Bangladesh of the former UK City minister Tulip Siddiq has been “contrived and unfair”, leading lawyers including a former Conservative justice secretary have told Bangladesh’s ambassador before Thursday’s verdict.

Siddiq, who resigned from the UK government in January, is due to receive her verdict and sentence in absentia, with the prosecution seeking a maximum life sentence term.

The Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate is the niece of Sheikh Hasina, the former prime minister of Bangladesh, who was given a death sentence last week over charges of crimes against humanity relating to last year’s crackdown on student-led protests.

In a letter to Abida Islam, Bangladesh’s high commissioner in the UK, a group of high-profile lawyers including Robert Buckland KC, who was

See Full Page