Shafik's arrest politically motivated

Condemning journalist Shafik Rehman's arrest and terming it "politically motivated" and the manner it was conducted "fraudulence", BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir yesterday said it stirred the country, even those opposing Shafik's ideology, and demanded his immediate release.

"This is because he spoke of beauty and love," he told a programme organised by Jatiya Gonotantrik Party in the capital's Photo Journalists Association auditorium seeking the release.

The arrest was made by detectives at Shafik's Eskaton residence. He was taken on a five-day remand in a case over alleged attempts to abduct and kill the prime minister's son Sajeeb Wazed Joy.

"An old political party like Awami League has become totally bankrupt and now they have no politics…this regime mainly took a stance against differences of opinions, freedom of expression and democracy with a motive to anyhow cling to power," Fakhrul said.

He alleged that the government was gradually arresting in "false and fabricated" cases and putting behind bars those who talk in favour of democracy and freedom of speech and hold differing opinions.

In a statement, he also criticised the police plea before a court to show Amar Desh Editor Mahmudur Rahman arrested in the case, saying the government has been filling "false cases" against him one after another to "make him weak" and "disrupt his mental stability".

Meanwhile, the BNP chairperson's advisor, Shamsuzzaman, at a human chain in front of Jatiya Press Club, lambasted the government for the arrest, saying attempted murder charges had been filed and torture in remand were being inflicted upon a person who could not "even kill a fly".