Sheikh Rehana Siddiq (born 13 September 1955) is a Bangladesh Awami League politician. She is the younger sister of the former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the daughter of the first

President of Bangladesh President of Bangladesh (POB), officially the President of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is the head of state of Bangladesh and commander-in-chief of the Bangladesh Armed Forces. The role of the president has changed three times since ...

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (17 March 1920 – 15 August 1975), also known by the honorific Bangabandhu, was a Bangladeshi politician, revolutionary, statesman and activist who was the founding president of Bangladesh. As the leader of Bangl ...

. She is also the mother of Tulip Siddiq, a British Labour Party politician and former

Economic Secretary to the Treasury The Economic Secretary to the Treasury is a junior ministerial post in HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury, ranked below the First Lord of the Treasury, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the Paymaster General a ...

. She is currently facing multiple corruption cases in

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

Early life

Rehana was 4th child of

, the first president of

, and Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib, a housewife. She was placed under house arrest in

Dhanmondi Dhanmondi () is an upscale residential and commercial neighbourhood and a Thanas of Bangladesh, thana (police jurisdiction) in Dhaka, Bangladesh, known for its central location, cultural vibrancy and being home to the country's founding president, ...

along with her family by the

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ), commonly known as the Pak Army (), is the Land warfare, land service branch and the largest component of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The president of Pakistan is the Commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the army. The ...

during

Bangladesh Liberation War The Bangladesh Liberation War (, ), also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, was an War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali nationalism, Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in East Pakistan, which res ...

. She passed

matriculation examination A matriculation examination or matriculation exam is a university entrance examination, which is typically held towards the end of secondary school. After passing the examination, a student receives a School leaving qualification, school leaving ce ...

from Shaheen School. She was in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

with her elder sister Sheikh Hasina when her family was assassinated in a military coup by the Bangladesh Army on 15 August 1975. She was 20 years old at that time.

Career

After the assassination of

, Rehana and her elder sister Sheikh Hasina took political refuge in India first and later to the United Kingdom. She had played an instrumental role in raising international awareness on the brutal and unlawful assassination of her entire family. After relentless campaign in different European countries, in the year 1979 in Sweden, Sheikh Rehana held the first international conference to call for an impartial trial on Bangabandhu Murder. The conference was attended by international jurists, European civil society members and her political colleagues in exile. During her exile in the UK in 1980s, Sheikh Rehana assisted Bangladesh Awami League (BAL) to reach out to European Civil Society and UN Organizations on the plight of Bangladeshi people under undemocratic and brutal military dictatorship it had witnessed from 1975 to 1991. Between the year 2007-08, while Sheikh Hasina was imprisoned under the emergency rule of Fakhruddin Ahmed’s military backed caretaker government, Sheikh Rehana on Hasina's behalf secretly organised Awami League and other political parties to bring back democratic elected government in Dhaka. Sheikh Rehana was made councilor of BAL Dhaka South unit in 2016.

Corruption

After Sheikh Hasina's fall, the Anti-Corruption Commission of Bangladesh has started investigations of various corruption and abuse of power cases against her. The BFIU and ACC has sought financial information from banks about her. These include a $5 billion embezzlement case of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, allocations of RAJUK plots in Purbanchal by abuse of power and money laundering. It has also been reported that she is linked to the siphoning of billions of dollars from Bangladesh's banking system through S. Alam. Law adviser to the Interim Government of Bangladesh Asif Nazrul stated on December 09, 2024 that "Younger sister Sheikh Rehana was Sheikh Hasina's cashier" in context of money laundering and corruption.

Residence and security

She was allotted a government house/plot in

for a "Token" 100 taka in 2001 by the government of Bangladesh. Bangladesh government has a policy and law to allot government plots to prominent personalities, and as such this allotment was made to her considering her position as the country's father of the nation's daughter and the resulting security threat to her and her family members. Government has allotted such lands to many prominent political, social and cultural personalities in the past and still continues to do so. The first allocation was cancelled when Bangladesh Nationalist Party came to power. Later the decision to award the allotment was upheld in the High Court of Bangladesh following a Writ Petition filed by Sheikh Rehana. But a change of heart saw her return the house to the government despite obtaining High Court order in her favour. In 2014 she was allocated a house in Gulshan after

Awami League The Awami League, officially known as Bangladesh Awami League, is a major List of political parties in Bangladesh, political party in Bangladesh. The oldest existing political party in the country, the party played the leading role in achievin ...

came to power for a token price of 1001 taka following the High Court order which upheld the legality of her prior allotment. Given the violent history of brutal assassination of Sheikh Mujib family in 1975, and later attempts to assassinate Sheikh Hasina, which was 19 times in total, and very high security risk towards the immediate Mujib family members, in 2015 she and her children were given lifelong protection by the government of Bangladesh through the Special Security Force. Practice of extending such security protection is not rare for persons with high security risk to their lives. The government also announced free utility for life for her and her family. After the fall of the Awami League government, her residence in Gulshan was vandalized. However, the interim government decided to cancel this law. On 29 August 2024, the interim government decided to cancel this law. Then on September 9, 2024, an ordinance was issued repealing the law. In April 2025, the Anti-Corruption Commission seized Rehana's properties along with her family members after filing a successful petition with Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Md Zakir Hossain.

Personal life

Rehana is married to Shafique Ahmed Siddique, retired professor of Department of Accounting & Information Systems, Faculty of Business Studies (FBS), University of Dhaka. Her son, Radwan Mujib Siddiq Bobby, is a councilor of Bangladesh Awami League. Her daughter, Tulip Siddiq, is a Member of Parliament for the Labour Party in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

for the Hampstead and Kilburn constituency, her other daughter is Azmina Siddiq. Rehana often accompanied Sheikh Hasina on her official trips including the state funeral of Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom in 2022 and Coronation of Charles III and Camilla in 2023. She also accompanied Hasina after she resigned as Prime Minister and fled Bangladesh to India during the Non-cooperation movement (2024) on 5 August.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rehana, Sheikh 1957 births Living people People from Gopalganj District, Bangladesh Politicians from Dhaka Division Awami League politicians Tungipara Sheikh family Children of presidents of Bangladesh Children of prime ministers of Bangladesh BAF Shaheen College Dhaka alumni 20th-century Bangladeshi politicians 21st-century Bangladeshi politicians 20th-century Bangladeshi women politicians 21st-century Bangladeshi women politicians