Labour MP leading campaign to free British citizen in Iran avoids requests to help British man in Bangladesh
Ms Siddiq also told a Channel 4 News producer: 'Hope you have a great birth because child labour is hard'
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Your support makes all the difference.The Labour MP leading the campaign to free Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe in Iran has ignored requests to intervene in the case of a disappeared British citizen in Bangladesh, where her aunt is Prime Minister, saying only that “he is not my constituent.”
Labour MP for Hampstead and Kilburn Tulip Siddiq has been among the most prominent voices in the campaign to free Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, after Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson erroneously claimed she had been “training journalists” in Iran, prompting the regime to increase her sentence by five years.
But according to a Channel 4 News report, Ms Siddiq has also received requests from journalists, from lawyers, from family and in parliament, to intervene in the case of Ahman Bin Quasem, a British-Bangladeshi lawyer and son of a prominent Bangladeshi Opposition politician who was kidnapped last August by the Bangladeshi regime.
Doorstepped by Channel 4 News at Free Zaghari-Ratcliffe rally in north London, Ms Siddiq told them she has “no idea about the case”, despite receiving a heartfelt letter from Mr Bin Quasem’s mother, before suggesting it would not be proper for her to intervene because Mr Bin Quasem is not her constituent.
Ms Siddiq told Channel 4 News: “I am a British politician, born in London. Are you implying that I’m a Bangladeshi politician? I don’t think that’s the right thing to imply. You need to be very careful.
“Are you calling me Bangladeshi because I am British. Be very careful what you’re saying.”
Ms Siddiq’s aunt is Sheikh Hasina, who has been Bangladeshi Prime Minister since 2009. Human rights campaigners have criticised the regime for its record on extra judicial killings and “enforced disappearances.”
Ms Siddiq has previously travelled to Moscow with her aunt for a public meeting with Vladimir Putin, and prior to her election to parliament in 2015 described herself as a “spokesperson for the Awami League,” her aunt’s political party. The Channel 4 News report points out that this claim has since disappeared from her website.
Michael Polak, a lawyer representing Mr Bin Quasem who have travelled to Bangladesh say they have been told that Mr Bin Quasem’s best hope is for Ms Siddiq to intervene, adding that “all it would take is one phone call.”
The report points out Ms Siddiq recently told a Bangladeshi newspaper that “I try to help Bangladeshis in England in whatever way it is possible.”
At the end of Channel 4 News report, Ms Siddiq is recorded saying to Channel 4 News pregnant producer Daisy Ayliffe. “Thanks Daisy for coming. Hope you have a great birth because child labour is hard.”
Ms Siddiq told the programme: “He is not my constituent. I have no idea about the case. That is the end of my statement.”
Later, Ms Siddiq apologised for the remarks she made to Ms Ayliffe.
In a statement, Ms Siddiq said: "I want to apologise unreservedly for my comments to Channel 4's producer, which were an off-hand and ill-judged attempt to deal with what I felt was a hostile situation.
"I would never want to upset her and I hope she accepts my apology."
She added: "The fact that some members of my family are involved in politics in Bangladesh has long been a matter of public record which I have not hidden from.
"That said, I have no capability or desire to influence politics in Bangladesh."
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