Former Bangladesh minister accused of killing student during protests held

Former junior minister for information and broadcasting Mohammad Ali Arafat, an accused in several cases was arrested in cases that include one filed over the killing of a student during the anti-government protests.

Dhaka: Bangladesh police on Tuesday arrested former junior minister for information and broadcasting Mohammad Ali Arafat, an accused in several cases, including one filed over the killing of a student during the anti-government protests.

Police said they arrested Arafat from the upmarket Gulshan area in the national capital. They were preparing to produce Arafat to a court with a petition seeking remand custody.

The arrest came amid speculation that he might have left the country during or after the ouster of the Awami League regime on August 5 in a student-people mass upsurge as he was active on social media while other ministers or party leaders were unseen in the public domain.

Two weeks ago, Bangladesh Bank’s Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) ordered banks to freeze the accounts of Arafat and his wife.

Arafat was arrested a day after left-leaning Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JASOD) president Hasanul Haque Inu was detained from a relative’s house in Dhaka while police sought a court order for him to be placed under a 10-day remand for questioning in a murder charge.

JASOD was one of the key allies of the past government, with the Workers Party of Rashed Khan Menon being another. Menon was also arrested in a case and was placed on a five-day police remand by a Dhaka court.

Former law minister Anisul Huq and ex-premier’s private sector affairs adviser and business tycoon Salman F Rahman were the first who were arrested from Dhaka’s main river port Sadarghat terminal area as they were allegedly trying to leave Dhaka on a boat in disguise.

Since then, several ministers and leaders, including ex-social welfare minister Dipu Moni, junior minister for ICT affairs Zunaid Ahmed Palak and officials including a recently sacked military major general and a rear admiral of the navy, were arrested.

Paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) late Friday said they detained retired judge of the Supreme Court Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik from northeastern Sylhet frontier with India as he was trying to leave the country.

Many of those arrested were thrashed by mobs and lawyers opposed to the Sheikh Hasina regime during their appearance in courts despite heavy security escorts. A critically wounded Manik, who was a loud voice for the erstwhile regime, is now being treated at the intensive care unit of a state-run hospital in Sylhet.

The people arrested include a TV journalist couple - Farzana Rupa and her husband Shakil Ahmed - who were charged as well for murders.

Dozens of cases have been filed in courts on charges ranging from mass killing to money laundering were filed against Hasina and most of the people arrested so far.

Soon after her resignation, Hasina left the country in an army helicopter and took initial refuge in India.

Bangladesh army earlier said they sheltered in cantonments several hundred Awami League leaders and others as their lives were at risk without naming anyone.