Jamaat leader dies from police ‘torture’

Jamaat-e-Islami has claimed that one of its leaders has died due to ‘psychological torture’ of police in Dhaka.

It said Abul Ala Mohammed Iqbal, 45, was detained from a procession earlier on Sunday and was ‘psychologically tortured’. Later he died at a hospital in the capital.

However, the law enforcers have denied the allegations of detaining the Jamaat leader and torturing him.

Jamaat’s Dhaka metropolitan unit executive council member Iqbal, also chief of the party’s Tejgaon unit, was a teacher at a private college.

Supporters of the party had taken out protest processions in different areas in Dhaka after the first war crimes tribunal set Monday to deliver the verdict in the trial of former Jamaat chief Ghulam Azam. Several incidents of vandalism and arsons also took place.

Jamaat, the key ally of main opposition BNP, has also called a daylong countrywide general strike for Monday.

However, speaking to bdnews24.com, the party’s metropolitan unit executive council member Azam Kamal claimed that police detained Iqbal while charging baton to disperse a procession at Mohakhali.

“They took him to custody and tortured him mentally. He fell sick later after police released him in exchange for Tk 20,000.”

Doctors at Metropolitan Medical Center at Mohakhali pronounced him dead when he was taken there.

Duty doctor Munir Hossain told bdnews24.com: “He was already dead when he was brought to hospital. We just pronounced him dead.”

Iqbal’s body, however, did not bore any wounds, he said. Asked about the cause of death, Hossain said it would be determined after autopsy.

His family has already taken the body, he added.

But Jamaat leader Kamal said Iqbal had died due to a cardiac arrest.

Meanwhile, regarding the Jamaat allegations, DMP’s Tegaon Division Deputy Commissioner Biplab Sarkar told bdnews24.com: “No Jamaat leader by the name of Iqbal was detained or arrested. So the allegations of taking money and releasing him are baseless.”

Asked whether any legal action would be taken based on the allegations, Azam Kamal said party’s top leaders would decide.