Shafik Rehman released from jail after securing bail from top court

Magazine editor Shafik Rehman has been released on bail in a case over an alleged plot to ‘abduct and murder’ Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy.

Authorities at Gazipur’s Kashimpur Central Jail released him around 1pm on Tuesday, five days after the Supreme Court granted him bail.

“He was released after we received the bail documents on Monday night,” Jailer Nasir Ahmed told bdnews24.com.

On Aug 31, the top court granted bail to Rehman after he appealed against a High Court order scrapping his bail petition.

The chief justice-led appeals bench instructed him to submit his passport and said he will be able to stay out of jail until police file the chargesheet.

In May last year, police had started the case, in which Rehman was accused.

The case followed the conviction of an expatriate BNP leader’s son, along with two other Americans, in the US for bribing a former FBI agent to get confidential information on Joy with the intent to 'scare,' 'kidnap' and 'hurt' him.

Shafik Rehman was arrested in this case on Apr 16 this year from his home in Dhaka.

Police later said the former Daily Jaijaidin editor had admitted to holding several meetings with those convicted by the US court and handed over 'confidential FBI documents’, related to the plot to abduct Joy.

Joy advises his mother Hasina on information and communication technology issues.

But Rehman's wife Taleya Rehman claimed that her husband had collected those documents as an 'investigative journalist' to write a report.

On Jun 7, a High Court bench had scrapped Rehman’s petition after he was denied bail by the trial court.

The top court on Jul 17 cleared him to file an appeal against the High Court order.