Shafik Rehman facing injustice, says BNP’s Mirza Fakhrul

The BNP has demanded justice for Shafik Rehman, arrested in connection with an alleged conspiracy to commit murder.

Party Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir met Rehman’s wife Taleya Rahman at their house in Dhaka’s Eskaton on Sunday.

Detectives arrested Rehman, a pro-BNP journalist, in a case filed over a conspiracy to abduct and murder in the US Sajeeb Ahmed Wazed Joy, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s son.  

“Shafik Rehman is a veteran journalist of our country. The world recognises him as an important figure. He worked for the BBC for a long time. He is an author, who continues to inspire people,” said Fakhrul.

“He used to work for love. It was him who introduced Valentine’s Day to Bangladesh. We can’t even begin to imagine how unjust it is to falsely accuse a person who has always dedicated his life to love.”

The plot to abduct Joy came to light after an expatriate Bangladeshi pleaded guilty to bribing an FBI detective to gather confidential information on the Bangladesh prime minister’s son, a US citizen. 

Rizve Ahmed Caesar, 36, son of Mohammad Ullah Mamun, vice-president of the BNP’s cultural wing JaSaS, was sentenced to a 30-month prison term in March 2015.

The court documents say Caesar, who lived in Connecticut, had shared the information with a journalist based in Bangladesh.

But Fakhrul said Rehman was arrested because of his ‘dissident views’.

Shafik Rehman

“This government is harassing people who oppose their views by imprisoning them over false charges.”

Before meeting the BNP leaders at noon, Taleya Rehman was at the British High Commission after the arrest of her husband, a UK passport-holder.