Murad Hassan returns to Bangladesh after failed bid to enter Canada

Murad Hassan, who left Bangladesh after being sacked as a state minister for obscene comments and rape threats, has returned home after his failed bid to enter Canada.

He arrived at Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka by an Emirates flight at 4:55 pm on Sunday, said Md Asaduzzaman, a deputy inspector general of police.

An officer of the police’s Special Branch said Murad used the domestic terminal to leave the airport. 

An official at the Dhaka airport said the airline authorities handed Murad to the immigration authorities – a practice for the air passengers barred from their intended destinations.

Murad did not receive calls from bdnews24.com.

The disgraced politician was fired last week as the state minister for information after audio of lewd remarks and rape threats made by him surfaced online.

Amid a whirlwind of controversy, he took an Emirates flight to Canada after Thursday midnight, but travelled to Dubai after the Canadian authorities denied him entry.

Murad had travelled to Canada for around a week in September. He had visited Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver during the tour. He had gone to the US in October. It was not clear whether the visits were official.

This time he was stopped at Toronto Pearson International Airport, according to Shaugat Ali Sagor, editor of Bangla news portal Notun Desh, published from Canada. Canada Border Services Agency did not give Murad permission to enter the country, Sagor said in a report.

A section of the Bangladeshi community in Canada had worked to stop Murad from entering the country, said Monjure Khoda Torik, an organiser of Lootera Birodhi Mancha in Canada who is doing his PhD research at York University in Toronto.

"Everything is done in a very systematic way in Canada. We have written to the Border Services Agency of Canada about Murad Hassan’s misdeeds, and attached news and video clips to the emails.”

Citing two Bangladeshi journalists in Canada, Torik said 171 such emails were sent to the Canadian agency. “I believe these [emails] played a role in Murad’s being denied entry to Canada.”

But, Channel 24, a Bangladeshi broadcaster, reported citing a source in the Canadian High Commission in Dhaka that Murad could not enter Canada because he did not have the papers needed to travel to Canada amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Asked how Murad passed checks at the Dhaka airport without COVID vaccine certificate and test result, State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Mahbub Ali said at a press conference on Sunday that the Health Services Division looks after the issue. The Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh, or CAAB, just let the Health Services Division set up a health desk, he said, and advised the reporters to contact the health ministry for comment.  

CAAB Executive Director Touhid-ul Ahsan said they will inquire about the matter.

An officer at the airport in Dhaka told bdnews24.com on Saturday that Canada had denied Murad entry even after he used a diplomatic passport.

“We have information that he travelled back to Dubai from there [Canada], and will return to Bangladesh tomorrow,” the officer said on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media on the matter.

A member of the cabinet, who also requested anonymity, told bdnews24.com: “He [Murad] can’t stay in Dubai because he doesn’t have a visa. I’ve heard that he’s coming back.”

Murad resigned on Dec 7 and apologised to the women of Bangladesh after a scandalous audio leak of his expletive-laden misogynistic comments landed him in hot water. A ruling party unit also stripped him of his position, but Murad was nowhere to be seen until his departure as public outrage brewed over his remarks.

On Wednesday, he took to Facebook to ask for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s forgiveness. He now faces an investigation into his remarks belittling Dhaka University, particularly the women activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League, after a leader of the ruling party’s student wing filed a general diary.

Asked about the speculation surrounding Murad’s possible departure from Bangladesh, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan had said on Thursday that he knew nothing about the former state minister's plans. “Whether he stays or leaves is entirely a personal matter. We’ve nothing to say about it.”

The 47-year-old doctor by training initially caught the ire of netizens for his offensive remarks about former prime minister Khaleda Zia's granddaughter, prompting calls from the BNP for his resignation.

Amid the furore, an audio clip of a telephone conversation between him and an actress began to circulate on Facebook. In the audio record, Murad was heard using a stream of obscene words and threatening to drag the actress into a five-star hotel and rape her.