UK’s Dickson responded ‘positively’ on repatriation of Tarique, law minister says

Law Minister Anisul Huq has said he had a “positive” discussion with British High Commissioner Robert Dickson over repatriation of BNP Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman, a fugitive convict who has taken asylum in London.

“We want him back,” is what Huq said he told Dickson at the minister’s office in Dhaka on Wednesday after the UK envoy took charge recently. 

Tarique has been in Britain since 2008 when he left Bangladesh after being released from jail for treatment during the emergency rule. He was sentenced in absentia to up to life in prison on charges of corruption, money laundering, and masterminding the deadly Aug 21, 2004 grenade attack on an Awami League rally.

The government has been trying to bring him back from London and held discussions with the British leaders and officials at different times as his mother and party chief Khaleda Zia is serving 17 years in jail for corruption.  

The law minister said he explained why Bangladesh wants Tarique back: “Firstly, it may become an example for convicts fleeing from Bangladesh and getting asylum in Britain, with whom we have good relations.”   

Secondly, it may weaken the image of Bangladesh’s judiciary, according to Huq. “Our court has punished a criminal. Now the only place he belongs to is jail,” he said.

“The high commissioner said he would speak to his government about the issue. I think it is a positive response to the problem and I also believe we will be able to resolve it through discussions,” he added.

Dickson said he also told Huq that Tarique had many legal options to stay in the UK.

He, however, added Britain did not want deterioration of its ties with Bangladesh over only one issue.

Huq and Dickson also discussed other issues, including international security, freedom of media, the Digital Security Act, and UK-Bangladesh joint work plan on reforms to the judiciary. 

The minister also spoke to the media about the government’s efforts to bring back Noor Chowdhury, a convicted self-proclaimed assassin of Bangladesh’s founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, from Canada.

“A hearing on Noor Chowdhury was held in a Canadian court last Thursday. We had sought some information from the Canadian government but the minister for immigration and citizenship of Canada did not give us the information. So we have moved the Canadian Federal Court,” he said.

The court kept the case for verdict after hearing from the lawyers for the Canadian government, Bangladesh and Noor Chowdhury, the law minister said.