'Plotting to murder' Joy: BNP condemns jail sentences of Mahmudur, Shafik

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has condemned the jail sentences of Mahmudur Rahman, former energy adviser to BNP chief Khaleda Zia, and journalist Shafik Rehman in a case filed over a "conspiracy to kidnap and murder" Sajeeb Wazed Joy, the son of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and also her ICT Affairs adviser.

In a press statement issued on Thursday (17 August), the party's Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir called for the cancellation of the sentences and immediate release of the two.

Earlier on Thursday, Mahmudur and Shafik Rehman, along with three others, were sentenced to seven years in prison in the case by a Dhaka court on Thursday.

The other convicts are – Mohammad Ullah Mamun, former vice-president of BNP's cultural organisation Jasas; Rizvi Ahmed alias Caesar, Mamun's son; and Mizanur Rahman Bhuiyan, a US expatriate businessman.

All the convicts have also been fined Tk10,000 for these charges, with a requirement to serve an additional two months in prison in case of failure to pay the fine.

In the press statement, Fakhrul said, "In continuation of imprisonment of dissenters in cases that are false and filed in absentia by the current vindictive, arbitrary and authoritarian Awami League government, senior journalists Shafik Rehman and Mahmudur Rahman were sentenced to rigorous imprisonment in fabricated cases today.

"Such cases are [like] a fictional story. The Awami government targets anyone who speaks against 1/11, speaks in favour of democracy, speaks against the appalling misrule of the ruling party, speaks against crimes-injustice."

Lauding the convicted journalists, the BNP leader continued, "One of the best editors of Bangladesh, Shafik Rehman's newspaper 'Jaijaidin' is highly appreciated by the democratic movement and young society. Mahmudur Rahman is a fearless soldier for democracy.

"These dictated rulings against these two famous editors in false and fabricated cases prove that the current fascist government controls the judiciary. The public has rejected this dictated verdict."

Fakhrul continued that the Awami League-led government has become paranoid in the face of protests.

He said, "And so two leading journalists like Shafik Rehman and Mahmudur Rahman have been jailed.

"By controlling the courts, the illegal Awami government has become desperate to implement its objectives. However, the people have come to the streets with a strong determination against the oppression of the Awami government through the state machinery.

"The people will force the government to resign and hold the elections under a non-partisan neutral government."