Ehsanul Haque Jasim :
The BNP and its key ally Jamaat-e-Islami are worried about conviction of their grassroot leaders and activists. Many have already been convicted in country’s different parts on charge of sabotage during the anti-government movement, while the parties fear more sentences against their men.
Several leaders of BNP and Jamaat said that their thousands of leaders and activists are facing detention and politically motivated cases across the country. They apprehend that the government has ‘vindictive plan to convict a number of the BNP-Jamaat men in the cases in attempt to cling to power’.
The latest verdict against the BNP-Jamaat men came on Tuesday from a Speedy Trial Tribunal in Rajshahi. The tribunal pronounced the verdict against 28 BNP-Jamaat men in a case filed in connection with sabotage in Sirajganj’s Fakirtala during a hartal in 2013.
Among the 28 convicts, the tribunal awarded life-term imprisonments to 15 BNP-Jamaat leaders and workers, who were also fined Tk. 10,000 each. The 13 other convicts were sentenced to five-year imprisonment on the same charge. Sirajganj district Juba Dal’s
President Abu Sayeed Sweet and Sechchhasebok Dal’s Joint-Convener Jahangir Alam are among the convicts.
BNP Acting-Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Wednesday expressed annoyance at the sentence, saying that their grassroot leaders and activists were convicted in a fabricated and politically motivated case. “We are aggrieved at the verdict. The Awami League government filed the said case and many other cases as well across the country to suppress the opposition parties in attempt to cling to power,” he claimed.
In a statement, the BNP leader said that the countrymen are worried and panicked due to the misrule and inhuman activities of the government. The BNP could not be destroyed and the government can’t prolong its power through harassing and convicting the opposition men, he added.
Several other BNP-Jamaat activists were sentenced in Rajshahi last year on charge of subversive activities and bomb attacks. On October 26, a former General Secretary of Rajshahi University unit of Islami Chhatra Shibir was sentenced to life imprisonment for possessing firearms.
Apart from Rajshahi, the BNP-Jamaat men were also sentenced in Bagerhat, Rangpur, Satkhira and some other parts of the country in the cases filed for sabotage acts during anti-government movement in 2013 and 2014.
A Bagerhat court on January 13 sentenced 34 leaders and activists of the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami, including district BNP General Secretary Ali Reza Babu, to three years’ imprisonment in two separate cases filed under Speedy Trial Act. The two cases were filed for vandalising a local Awami League office and damaging the Prime Minister’s picture in 2013.
A Rangpur court on December 1 last sentenced seven Jamaat-Shibir men to 20 years’ imprisonment in a case filed under the Explosive Substances Act. The case was filed in 2013 during a hartal.
Some BNP-Jamaat men of Sylhet, who are facing cases, said that they apprehend conviction. “We took part in the street movement in 2013 and 2014 to exercise our democratic rights. But now we are facing one more cases. Two cases are now in trial stage. We don’t know what is written in our fate,” said Dildar Hossain Shamim, a BNP leader of Kanaighat in Sylhet.
Lukman Uddin, a local Jamaat leader, said that they are worried about the verdict. “It seems that the verdict will go against us. We may be worst victim of vindictive behaviour of the government,” he said.
The BNP and its key ally Jamaat-e-Islami are worried about conviction of their grassroot leaders and activists. Many have already been convicted in country’s different parts on charge of sabotage during the anti-government movement, while the parties fear more sentences against their men.
Several leaders of BNP and Jamaat said that their thousands of leaders and activists are facing detention and politically motivated cases across the country. They apprehend that the government has ‘vindictive plan to convict a number of the BNP-Jamaat men in the cases in attempt to cling to power’.
The latest verdict against the BNP-Jamaat men came on Tuesday from a Speedy Trial Tribunal in Rajshahi. The tribunal pronounced the verdict against 28 BNP-Jamaat men in a case filed in connection with sabotage in Sirajganj’s Fakirtala during a hartal in 2013.
Among the 28 convicts, the tribunal awarded life-term imprisonments to 15 BNP-Jamaat leaders and workers, who were also fined Tk. 10,000 each. The 13 other convicts were sentenced to five-year imprisonment on the same charge. Sirajganj district Juba Dal’s
President Abu Sayeed Sweet and Sechchhasebok Dal’s Joint-Convener Jahangir Alam are among the convicts.
BNP Acting-Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Wednesday expressed annoyance at the sentence, saying that their grassroot leaders and activists were convicted in a fabricated and politically motivated case. “We are aggrieved at the verdict. The Awami League government filed the said case and many other cases as well across the country to suppress the opposition parties in attempt to cling to power,” he claimed.
In a statement, the BNP leader said that the countrymen are worried and panicked due to the misrule and inhuman activities of the government. The BNP could not be destroyed and the government can’t prolong its power through harassing and convicting the opposition men, he added.
Several other BNP-Jamaat activists were sentenced in Rajshahi last year on charge of subversive activities and bomb attacks. On October 26, a former General Secretary of Rajshahi University unit of Islami Chhatra Shibir was sentenced to life imprisonment for possessing firearms.
Apart from Rajshahi, the BNP-Jamaat men were also sentenced in Bagerhat, Rangpur, Satkhira and some other parts of the country in the cases filed for sabotage acts during anti-government movement in 2013 and 2014.
A Bagerhat court on January 13 sentenced 34 leaders and activists of the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami, including district BNP General Secretary Ali Reza Babu, to three years’ imprisonment in two separate cases filed under Speedy Trial Act. The two cases were filed for vandalising a local Awami League office and damaging the Prime Minister’s picture in 2013.
A Rangpur court on December 1 last sentenced seven Jamaat-Shibir men to 20 years’ imprisonment in a case filed under the Explosive Substances Act. The case was filed in 2013 during a hartal.
Some BNP-Jamaat men of Sylhet, who are facing cases, said that they apprehend conviction. “We took part in the street movement in 2013 and 2014 to exercise our democratic rights. But now we are facing one more cases. Two cases are now in trial stage. We don’t know what is written in our fate,” said Dildar Hossain Shamim, a BNP leader of Kanaighat in Sylhet.
Lukman Uddin, a local Jamaat leader, said that they are worried about the verdict. “It seems that the verdict will go against us. We may be worst victim of vindictive behaviour of the government,” he said.
