Shafik Rehman had direct contact with convicted FBI agent, can be tried in US as well: Joy

Sajeeb Ahmed Wazed Joy says Shafik Rehman can be tried in the United States as well since he was ‘involved in criminal activity’ by conspiring to abduct and kill him.

The prime minister’s son wrote on his Facebook wall on Friday night that the journalist had direct contact with FBI agent Robert Lustyk, who is serving five years in a US jail for taking bribe in exchange for information on his (Joy’s) location.

He also said the sentence under the US law for ‘what Shafik did’ is life in prison there.

Magazine editor Shafik Rehman was arrested last Saturday in a case that charges him with conspiracy to harm Joy, who also advises the prime minister on ICT affairs.

Referring to US court records, Joy says the convicted FBI agent had written in text messages that Rizve Ahmed Caesar, son of a Washington-based BNP leader, wanted to “off” Joy.

“This (off) is slang in the US for killing someone,” Joy wrote.

“So (Caesar) had told his co-conspirator that he wanted to kill me, well before he was arrested,” the Facebook post read.

“After his arrest,” according to Joy, “he told the agents interrogating him the same thing.”

Joy said Caesar pleaded guilty to a lesser crime, “which is something guilty people usually do to avoid losing at trial and getting a longer prison sentence for a more serious crime”.

“He was facing a very long prison sentence for attempted murder, but got a shorter sentence by taking the plea,” Joy wrote.

“Finally, Shafik Rehman as a non-US citizen had obtained secret FBI files through bribery.

“In the US this is espionage and the sentence for that is life in a maximum security US prison,” he said at the end of his post.

A court has granted police five more days to grill Shafik Rehman in custody.

Police said the former BBC staffer had admitted to meeting those convicted for plotting to abduct and kill Joy.

Police also claimed to have obtained sensitive FBI files in a raid on his house.