Representational image.
A total of 199 leaders and activists of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party were sentenced to different terms of imprisonment on Thursday in four cases filed with Lalbagh, Kotwali, Uttara East, and Bangshal police stations in Dhaka on charges of violence during political programmes.
The conviction of BNP leaders and activists, key organisers, lawyers, and professionals loyal to the party has become prompt in recent weeks ahead of the national election on January 7.
Since the prime minister’s instruction, at least 494 leaders and activists of the BNP have been convicted in 25 cases across the country, according to lawyers and court sources.
With the 494 convicts, a total of 630 BNP leaders and activists were sentenced to different terms of imprisonment in 32 cases in the past three months.
Besides, the trial proceeding in at least 50 other cases filed with different police stations in Dhaka against around 1,000 BNP leaders is fast-paced to complete them before the next elections.
The court proceedings are allegedly going on at night to quicken the completion of the trial in the cases.
Apart from this, there are about 500 other political cases under trial in different Dhaka courts against BNP leaders and activists.
BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi alleged on Thursday at a virtual press conference that the courts were pronouncing the verdicts sent by Ganabhaban in the political cases for vanishing the opposition party.
Meanwhile, the crackdown against the BNP continued, with opposition activists alleging torture in police custody.
Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, at the press briefing, alleged that at least 410 more leaders and activists were arrested in 24 hours, taking the arrest figure to 15,600 in a month.
At least 384 cases were filed against party members during the period, said the BNP.
Rizvi said that police had been torturing the party leaders and activists in their custody to force them into making false confessional statements before the court, stating the involvement of the BNP in violence, arson attacks, and sabotage.
The Detective Branch of Police allegedly took Tk 1 lakh for not arresting an ailing leader of the BNP while raiding his house in the capital’s Kalabagan area on Tuesday, the party alleged on Thursday.
The BNP chairperson’s media wing official, Shamsuddin Didar, alleged that a team of DB raided the house of BNP national executive committee member and former president of the Shariatpur district unit, Jamaluddin Sharif Hero, on Tuesday evening and tried to arrest him.
Jamaluddin’s wife, Shamima Akter, told the team that her husband had been suffering from kidney disease and needed dialysis.
Quoting Shamima, Shamsuddin said that the DB team then demanded Tk 5 lakh for not arresting the BNP leader.
Shamima said that she could not manage the amount right now. With the DB team remaining adamant, she managed Tk 1 lakh from her relatives and provided the raiding team.
The DB team then seized and took away all the CCTV cameras and footage from the building.
The team also asked Shamima not to disclose the money issue but rather to tell people that the police did not arrest Jamaluddin since he had been suffering from kidney disease, said Shamsuddin.
Contacted, Dhaka Metropolitan Police deputy commissioner for DB Ramna division Humayun Kabir said he was not aware of any DB raid at the BNP leader’s house, and none of his divisions conducted such a raid.
On Thursday, Dhaka Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Md Hasibul Haque sentenced 75 BNP leaders and activists, including its leader, SM Jahangir Hossain, to 30 months imprisonment in a case filed with the Uttara East police station.
The magistrate, however, acquitted two accused, as charges against them were not proven in the case filed over blasting crude bombs, vandalising vehicles, assaulting law enforcers, and preventing them from performing their duties in the capital’s Uttara area on November 26, 2013.
Defence lawyer Syed Nazrul Islam said that only six witnesses testified in court and none mentioned the name of his client, Jahangir, but he was punished in the case.
Meanwhile, Judge Md Mamunur Rahman Siddique of the Dhaka Metropolitan Special Tribunal-10 sentenced 12 BNP leaders and activists, including Jubo Dal organising secretary Ishak Sarker, to seven years in jail in a case filed with Kotwali police station in the capital on charges of blasting cocktails in the old Dhaka area on March 8, 2015.
The other convicts included Shakwat Hossain Anwar, Haider Ali Babla, Imran Hossain Sentu, and Nasum Ahmed. The court, however, acquitted eight accused as the prosecution failed to prove charges against them.
In another case, a Dhaka metropolitan magistrate court on Thursday sentenced 62 BNP leaders and activists to three years imprisonment in a case filed with Bangshal police station on charges of violence.
Metropolitan magistrate Sheikh Sadi handed down the verdict in the case filed over violence during the political programme of the BNP in September 2018.
On the other hand, Dhaka metropolitan magistrate Saiful Islam sentenced 50 leaders and activists of the BNP on Thursday in a case filed with the Lalbagh police station in Dhaka.
The convicts included Haji Altaf Hossain, Musharraf Hossain, Jamalur Rahman Chowdhury, Shafiuddin Ahmed Sentu, Md Saidul Islam, Ziar Ali Tayyan, Syed Hossain Sohail, Haji Faisal, Arman Hossain Badal, Md Jummon, Faisal Ahmed, Md Taju, and Md Russell.
According to the case, in November 2013, police filed the case with Lalbagh police station in the capital on the allegation of violence.
Most of the cases that ended in the conviction of opposition people were filed by the police or supporters of the ruling Awami League between 2013 and 2018.
BNP termed the cases, filed mostly under the Special Powers Act, the Explosive Substances Act, and the Penal Code, among others, as ‘politically motivated.’
Farzana Sharmin Putul, a Supreme Court lawyer and member of the BNP’s human rights committee, said that possible candidates were also awarded convictions in case the party decided to join the election under a caretaker government.
A High Court verdict pronounced in 2018 and published in October barred people jailed for two years or more from joining parliamentary elections.
However, Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge court additional public prosecutor Tapash Kumar Pal claimed none of the convictions awarded by the magistrate courts found any political motivation in those cases.
According to BNP media cell statistics, until July, 1,37,569 ‘false cases’ were filed against 49,80,826 leaders, activists, and supporters of the party and its associate bodies between January 2009 and June 12, 2023.
New Age
