Bangladesh police arrest chief of largest Islamist party as protests to oust PM spreads
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Supporters of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party a huge rally in Dhaka on Dec 10 to press for a snap poll.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
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DHAKA - Bangladeshi police have arrested the chief of the country’s largest Islamist party, days after it announced that it would join the main opposition in protests to oust Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Counter-terrorism officers arrested Jamaat-e-Islami party emir Shafiqur Rahman in Dhaka, police spokesman Faruq Ahmed said, without elaborating on the charges.
A spokesman for Jamaat – the country’s third-largest political party, which has been banned from contesting elections since 2012 – condemned the arrest of the 64-year-old, saying it was intended to “scuttle the opposition’s anti-government movement”.
“This is just another episode of the unjust oppression continuing against the party for the last 15 years,” said Jamaat publicity secretary Matiur Rahman Akand.
For years, Jamaat was a major ally of the right-of-centre main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Their coalition ruled the country between 2001 and 2006.
But after Ms Hasina came to power in 2009, Jamaat’s entire leadership was arrested and tried for war crimes dating back to the country’s 1971 independence war against Pakistan.
Five of its top leaders were hanged between 2013 and 2016 after they were found guilty by a war crimes court. The party called the trials politically motivated and part of a wider vendetta against its leaders.
Hundreds of party activists were shot dead and tens of thousands detained after they staged violent protests against the executions.
The fresh arrest of Jamaat’s chief came days after two of the BNP’s leaders were arrested on charges of inciting violence on the eve of a giant anti-government rally last Saturday.
The BNP has demanded Ms Hasina step down and let a caretaker government hold a free and fair election.
The opposition says a credible vote under her is impossible after she was accused of rigging the past two general elections in 2014 and 2018.
Jamaat and several left-leaning and centrist parties have supported the BNP’s demands. They also announced that they would hold protests jointly with the BNP.
Police in November also arrested Mr Rahman’s son, Mr Rafat Sadik Saifullah, on extremism charges and remanded him in custody under Bangladesh’s harsh anti-terrorism laws. AFP
