Lawyer sent to jail after Awami League rally in Gulistan

Police have arrested him outside the Awami League party office in Gulistan

A Dhaka court has ordered a lawyer into jail in a case under the Anti-Terrorism Act, in a procession held by leaders and activists of the banned Awami League and its affiliated groups in Dhaka’s Gulistan.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Atiqur Rahman issued the order on Friday following an application filed by the investigation officer.

Police arrested the lawyer named Rafiqul Alam Chowdhury from outside the Awami League party office in Gulistan on Thursday.

The case investigation officer, Sub-Inspector (SI) Md Maksudur Hasan of Paltan Model Police Station, presented him in court and requested his detention.

Defendant's lawyer Bidhur Krishna Das applied for bail, but the hearing was delayed due to missing documents, and the court later ordered his jail, according to SI Rokonuzzaman.

The case alleges that on Aug 24, around 250 leaders and activists of the Awami League and its affiliates held a procession at Shaheed Motiur Park in Gulistan, raising “anti-state slogans” to disrupt law and order.

The following day, SI Mohammad Abu Yusuf of Paltan Model Police Station filed a case against 12 people, naming 250 unidentified others as suspects.