Bangladesh newspaper editor acquitted in failed plot to abduct and kill Hasina's son

Dhaka: A court in Bangladesh on Monday acquitted a prominent newspaper editor in a case related to a failed plot to abduct and kill ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina's son Sajeeb Wazed Joy in the US in 2015.

Dhaka 4th Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge Tarique Aziz pronounced the judgment, allowing Mahmudur Rahman's appeal against his conviction and sentence in the case, The Daily Star newspaper reported.

The judge said the charges brought against the appellant were found to be false and fabricated. So, the judgment sentencing him by the trial court was scrapped and the appellant was acquitted, said the judge in his order.

After the judgment, Mahmudur, the editor of the daily Amar Desh, told the journalists that he finally got justice from the court and he would continue his fight against fascism, which was also the country's struggle, it said.

On August 17 last year, a Dhaka court sentenced him to seven years' imprisonment in his absence.

Senior journalist Shafik Rehman, Jatiyatabadi Samajik Sangskritik Sangstha Vice-President Mohammad Ullah Mamun, his son Rizvi Ahmed Caesar, and US-based businessman Mizanur Rahman Bhuiyan were also sentenced to seven years in prison in absentia in the same case.

Mahmudur returned to Bangladesh on September 27 last year after spending over five and a half years in exile.

Two days later, he surrendered before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court in Dhaka and was sent to jail.

The case was filed on August 3, 2015 and after that Mahmudur and Shafik Rehman were arrested.

According to the complaint, Mamun and senior leaders of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party had allegedly met in the UK, the US, and various locations in Bangladesh to conspire to abduct and kill Joy, who was then the adviser to Sheikh Hasina, the paper said.

Hasina, 77, has been living in India since August 5 last year, when she fled Bangladesh following a massive student-led protest that toppled her Awami League’s 16-year regime.