Ganajagaran Mancha Spokesperson Imran Sarker ‘threatened with death’

Ganajagaran Mancha Spokesperson Imran H Sarker says he has received a death threat through his mobile phone.

A person called him on Sunday evening from a UK number saying “you will be killed”, the Shahbagh movement activist wrote on his Facebook wall.

In the post, he said he is not afraid of such threats.

Sarker, who had received death threats regularly after becoming the spokesperson for the secular platform demanding maximum penalty of war criminals, has also been vocal against the government in recent days.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s son Sajeeb Ahmed Wazed Joy, besides some Awami League leaders, have criticised Sarker for condemning the arrest of journalist Shafik Rehman over a plot to abduct and kill Joy in the US.

The Ganajgaran Mancha spokesperson said an old friend of his had asked him whether ‘death threats made in public’ would be tried if ‘conspiracy to murder’ is tried.

“My reply was that I am a son of a peasant. It will surely be tried if I was a son of the prime minister,” he wrote on the social networking site.

According to the post, he got the call at 7:12pm from a number with the UK country code.

“I was told that I will be killed very soon. I asked from where (the caller) was speaking. There was no reply. I was repeatedly told that I will be killed,” Sarker said.

“The caller hung up on me when I asked where and how I shall be killed,” he added.

He continued: “I know it doesn’t matter much whether I speak about it or not. But I just thought I should let everybody know.

“And it is pointless to think I can be stopped by issuing threats,” he added.

Sarker was a leader of Rangpur Medical College unit of the ruling Awami League’s student front Bangladesh Chhatra League. He became the spokesperson for Ganajgaran Mancha in 2013 as the convener of the Bloggers' and Online Activists' Network.

He became a household name after spearheading the campaign demanding the highest punishment for war criminals.

Hasina’s son Joy tagged him ‘opportunist’ when he had condemned the arrest of Rehman.

Sarker hit out at the government after the murder of Rajshahi University’s Prof AFM Rezaul Karim Siddiquee. On Saturday, he wrote, “Every one other than the ruling party leaders (its activists are not included) are getting killed.

“No incident other than conspiracies against the ruling party leaders, their families and relatives are being tried.”