West Hampstead councillor Nazma Rahman returned to the council chamber last night (Monday)

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A FORMER Mayor of Camden told the council that she was unable to come to meetings because she had gone into hiding in Bangladesh.

West Hampstead councillor Nazma Rahman attended last night’s (Monday’s) full council meeting but questions over her absence over several months had led to the Borough Solicitor Andrew Maughan to ask for a waiver to be agreed by members to ensure she did not lose her seat in the Camden Council chamber.

She was still being paid her basic councillor allowance during her time in Bangladesh, the lawyer’s report said.

It added: “Councillor Nazma Rahman travelled to Bangladesh in the summer to visit family. Whilst there, she and her family were caught up in the recent political turmoil in the country, Her family came under the direct threat of violence and went into hiding. This has made it extremely difficult for her to travel safely and to return to the UK.”

Councillors are required to attend at least one meeting over six months or face losing their place on the council.

Cllr Rahman’s husband, Azadur Rahman Azad, has been a senior organiser of the Awami League activities in Sylhet, one of the areas that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was taken to visit by Camden councillors after he became the MP for Holborn and St Pancras.

The AL’s leader, Sheikh Hasina, fled the country by helicopter at the start of August after protests on the streets demanded the end of her rule of more than two decades.

Her authority had repeatedly been accused of human rights violations with opponents ‘disappeared’.

Thousands died in three weeks of unrest as Sheikh Hasina failed to halt the demonstrations with forces firing at the crowds and using tear gas. The demonstrations had been sparked by students and later turned into wider revolt against her regime.

Her supporters say her own family are the victims and reference the 1975 coup in Bangladesh which saw Sheikh Hasina’s father, the country’s first leader after independence Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, assassinated alongside most of his family. She escaped the same fate because she had been visiting Europe at the time with her sister.

Hampstead and Highgate MP Tulip Siddiq is Sheikh Hasina’s niece.

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, a critic in exile, later returned to Bangladesh and was chosen as a ‘caretaker’ leader for an interim new government.

Cllr Rahman did not comment on her absence at Monday’s meeting and her attendance meant that there was no opportunity for any other councillor to comment on whether the waiver would or would not have been agreed.

Mayor of Camden Samata Khatoon said: “Members will be pleased to know that Cllr Rahman has now safely returned to the country and has recently attended a scrutiny committee as a substitute, and is here this evening so the borough solicitor has confirmed that he is withdrawing his report.”

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