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Published : 03 Aug 2023, 02:49 PM
The BNP plans to hold protest rallies on Friday in metropolitan areas and district towns across the country, including Dhaka, over the conviction of Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman and his wife Zubaida Rahman in a corruption case.
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir announced this programme in a press conference at the party's central office in Dhaka’s Naya Paltan on Thursday.
"Our Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman and his wife Zubaida Rahman have been sentenced illegally, unfairly and out of political revenge. People have already protested against it. As soon as the verdict was announced yesterday, there was a reaction across the country and thousands, if not millions of people took to the streets to protest it," he said.
"To condemn this verdict, we (the BNP) are announcing post-Jummah protest rallies across the country for Friday at the metropolitan and district levels. A joint initiative of the Dhaka Metropolitan North, South and Dhaka District branches will hold a rally in front of the central office at Naya Paltan at 2 pm.”
Mirza Fakhrul said that the district committee will join with each metropolis and hold the assemblies of the metropolis and the assembly of the districts will be organised by the district committee.
BNP Standing Committee Members Mirza Abbas, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Abdul Moin Khan, Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, Vice Chairman Barkat Ullah Bulu and other senior party leaders were present at the press conference.
Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Md Asaduzzaman sentenced Tarique to nine years in prison and his wife Zubaida Rahman to three years in the case filed by the anti-corruption agency during the state of emergency for owning assets beyond their declared income.
Tarique and Zubaida were also fined in the verdict on Wednesday. The judge also ordered the seizure of a significant chunk of assets.
Tarique, the eldest son of former prime minister Khaleda Zia, has lived in London with his family for the past 15 years. He was convicted in five cases.
Pro-BNP lawyers protested at the Dhaka court during the verdict, calling the verdict a sham.
Regarding the BNP’s remarks, Law Minister Anisul Haq told reporters: "The caretaker government was in office when the case was filed. At the time, their [the BNP-appointed] was close enough with that caretaker government. I have nothing more to add about that.”
As the case was filed by the caretaker government, the BNP’s claims about the case being a deliberate fabrication raise questions about whether they know anything about the law, Haq said.
GOVT SPEAKING WITH UK ON TARIQUE EXTRADITION
The government has been negotiating with the United Kingdom on the extradition of Tarique Rahman over his convictions in several cases, said Information Minister Hasan Mahmud.
“We’re discussing the issue with the British government,” the minister told the media on Thursday.
“Our government didn’t file the case against Tarique. It was the caretaker government of their [BNP] choice who filed the case in 2007,” said Hasan Mahmud.
“[Iajuddin Ahmed] was a person from Khaleda Zia’s bloc. The BNP and Khaleda Zia made him the president. They brought in Fakhruddin from Washington and made him the chief advisor of the caretaker government. It was an army-backed government. Khaleda Zia made him the chief of the army staff, superseding seven others. It was the people close to them [BNP] who filed the case.”
If the Awami League wanted to pursue Tarique out of malice, they would have filed a case against him themselves, said Hasan Mahmud.
“In fact, the BNP does not have faith in the law and judiciary [of the country] and they don’t care about anything. All they do is run to visit foreigners. We don’t go to foreigners - they come to us for their own benefit.”
Hasan Mahmud was asked about the BNP leaders’ complaints that Tarique and Zubaida were slammed with the verdict ahead of the election in a bid to strip the BNP of its leadership.
“If it was the government who did something intentionally, there would be no waiting for a verdict that took 14 and a half years,” the information minister said.
“There have been two previous elections under the present government. It [Tarique’s case] has no connection with the election. The judicial trial took its own course and the verdict was announced.”
Regarding the ban on broadcasting Tarique Rahman’s statement, the minister said the ban already existed. None of the top-tier media outlets broadcast Tarique Rahman’s statements, he said.
“But sometimes, some media outlets do it by mistake and it is also broadcast on social media or the YouTube channel. I believe that’s the reason the court announced a supplementary verdict. If anyone defies it, they will be in contempt of court and the court will take the necessary steps.”
