Dhaka, Sep 23 (IANS): A Bangladeshi court placed former Awami League lawmaker Mahfuzur Rahman Mita on six-day remand in an Anti-Terrorism case registered with Tejgaon Industrial Area Police Station in Dhaka, local media reported.
Dhaka Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Joshita Islam passed the order after the investigation officer sought 10 days’ custody for Mita, along with his driver Selim, according to Prosecution Sub-Inspector Arif Reza
Mita was arrested on Tuesday from a residence in the Gulshan-2 area of Dhaka, said Detective Branch (DB) of Gulshan Division Deputy Commissioner AFM Anwar Hossain Khan.
His driver Selim was also taken into custody at the same time.
Inspector Md Masudur Rahman, the investigation officer of the Tejgaon Zonal Team, produced the two accused before the court and requested 10 days’ remand for each, Bangladeshi daily Dhaka Tribune reported.
The case stems from a June 18 procession near Mohakhali Bus Terminal in Dhaka, where, according to the FIR, around 35–40 leaders and activists of the Awami League and its student wing, Chhatra League, gathered.
The FIR alleged that participants raised anti-government slogans during the procession and exploded cocktails, triggering panic among members of the public. Police later filed the case under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
The latest arrest comes against the backdrop of an escalating crackdown on Awami League leaders and activists that began during the period of the previous Muhammad Yunus-led interim government and has persisted under the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) administration,
Last month, as many as 53 leaders and activists of the Awami League party and its affiliated organisations were arrested by Bangladesh police, local media reported.
According to a Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) press release, the individuals were arrested from a building in the Bashundhara residential area of Dhaka.
Citing Bhatara Police Station in the capital, the DMP said that the Awami League leaders and activists had gathered to organise a preparatory meeting and a flash march in connection with the August 15 mourning day.
Police from Bhatara Police Station subsequently carried out a drive and took 53 people into custody, Bangladesh’s leading Bengali daily Prothom Alo reported.
Following the arrests, Bangladesh’s Awami League strongly condemned the move, saying it demonstrated that there was now little room left in the country for democratic rights or the freedom to observe religious or national occasions.
