Supreme Court lawyers Shakila Farjana (left) and Advocate Liton Hasan (middle), and Judge Court lawyer Mahfuz Choudhury Bapon (right)
A Chittagong court yesterday granted fresh remand for three lawyers, including barrister Shakila Farzana, arrested for their alleged involvement in the financing of a militant outfit, Shaheed Hamja Brigade.
Senior Judicial Magistrate Md Mosaddek Minhaz passed the order after the Rapid Action Battalion produced them in court, seeking five-day remand for each in a case filed in connection with a raid on a training camp of the militant outfit at Hathazari upazila on February 19.
Detained from the capital’s Dhanmondi area on August 18, the three were shown arrested in a case filed with Banskhali Police Station in connection with a raid on another training camp of the outfit at Lotmoni hill area in Banshkhali upazila.
Rab-7 interrogated them for four days till Sunday in the case and the three gave confessional statements to a Banshkhali court.
Meanwhile, Shakila’s mother Farida Wahid claimed that her daughter was innocent and had fallen victim to a conspiracy.
Shakila has been made an accused as she conducted many cases on behalf of BNP activists and leaders, she added.
Rejecting bail prayers moved by the defence, the court yesterday granted 48-hour remand for Shakila while placing Supreme Court’s lawyer Md Hasanuzzaman Litan and Dhaka Judge Court lawyer Mahfuz Chowdhury Bapan on 72-hour remand, said public prosecutor Abul Hashem.
The court passed the order considering that the arrestees should be interrogated more to extract details of the financing of the outfit and who else were backing it, he added.
Expressing dissatisfaction over the court order, defence lawyer Abdus Sattar said confessional statements of the three lawyers had been recorded under Section-164.
After the submission of confessional statements, nobody could be placed on remand again, he said, adding that Shakila and two others were victims of state politics.
“As part of a state plot, the three lawyers were placed on remand,” said Sattar, adding that Shakila was not involved in financing any militant group, rather she had taken money from her client for conducting cases and then returned a portion of the money.
“It was a relation between a professional lawyer and a client.”
Hamja Brigade key person Moniruzzaman had told law enforcers that the money he collected for the outfit was spent for both the camps at Hathazari and Banshkhali, said Rab-7 CO Lt Col Miftah Uddin Ahmed, adding that was why the three lawyers needed to be interrogated in both the cases.
Source: The Daily Star
