Dhaka17 hours ago
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Retired Bangladesh Supreme Court judge Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik was arrested near the border in Sylhet on Friday night. According to the Bengali newspaper Dhaka Tribune, he was trying to flee to India when he was caught by locals.
After this, he was handed over to Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB). BGB has confirmed this. Manik was kept in the BGB post till late night. On Saturday morning, he was taken to Sylhet headquarters.
A defamation suit was filed against Manik on Thursday for making derogatory remarks against Khaleda Zia’s late husband and Bangladesh Nationalist Party founder Ziaur Rahman.
Former Supreme Court Justice Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik was caught by locals near the border with India.
Khaleda Zia’s husband was called a Razakar
According to the FIR, Justice Manik had said about Ziaur Rahman on a private channel in October 2022 that he was not a freedom fighter but a ‘Razakar’. In Bangladesh, Razakar means traitor.
Many videos related to Manik’s arrest are viral on social media. In one video, the police is holding his neck. In another video, he is sleeping on a banana leaf.
Justice Manik had called Ziaur Rahman a Razakar on a private TV channel.
Journalist couple going to France arrested
In Bangladesh, after Sheikh Hasina left the country, many of her close associates have been arrested. Earlier, TV journalist couple Farzana Rupa and her husband Shakeel Ahmed, who were considered supporters of Sheikh Hasina in Bangladesh, were arrested.
They were arrested on 21 August from Shahjalal Airport. Their daughter was also with them. They were trying to go to Paris. The journalist couple had got permission to leave the country. But before boarding the plane, the police took them into custody. They were told that a case related to murder is registered against them. Later they were sent to jail on 4-day remand.
The couple held important positions in Ekattor TV. But after the fall of the Hasina government, they were removed from the channel on 8 August.
Farzana Rupa and her husband Shakil Ahmed worked at Ekattor TV. They were fired after Sheikh Hasina left the country.
Former law minister was fleeing in the guise of a fisherman, arrested
Earlier on August 14, former Bangladesh Law Minister Anisul Haque and Salman F Rahman, an investment adviser in the Hasina government, were arrested. They were trying to flee to India from Dhaka via river.
According to reports, Salman had even shaved off his beard to avoid getting caught and was trying to escape by disguising himself as a fisherman. Within hours of his arrest, he was charged with involvement in a murder and sent to jail on 10 days remand.
Many supporters of Sheikh Hasina are still missing
Since Sheikh Hasina left the country, many of her supporters have been in hiding. Some people have already fled the country. Apart from these, military and civilian officials including several members of Hasina’s cabinet were arrested.
These include former Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud, former Social Welfare Minister Dipu Moni, several MPs-leaders of the Awami League and its allies, leftist Workers Party chairman Rashed Khan Menon and several recently expelled members.
Hasina’s existence was destroyed by her own people: close ministers and officers took wrong decisions, restored internet without asking; this led to the cooling down of the movement to flare up again
Ministers and top officers close to Sheikh Hasina also played a big role behind the coup in Bangladesh. Intelligence reports say that the ‘wrong’ decisions of the Law Minister, Law Secretary, Governor of Bank of Bangladesh, IT Minister and Head of Intelligence Branch inflamed the movement which was dying down.
Restoring mobile internet services and forcibly interrogating agitating students proved very costly for the Hasina government. Some officers of the Bangladesh Army’s intelligence wing Directorate General of Force Intelligence (DGFI) and some cabinet ministers were not loyal to Hasina. Read full news here…
