taff Reporter:
A Dhaka court on Sunday ordered the incarceration of four individuals, including former lawmaker from the reserved seat in Sunamganj Shamima Akter, and Centre for Research and Information (CRI) Director and former Assistant Press Secretary to ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Ashraf Siddiqui Bitu in connection with cases filed at various police stations.
Judges Atiqur Rahman and Mahbubur Rahman of the Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Court issued the orders after the investigating officers produced the accused before the court, seeking its order to send them to jail.
Alongside Shamima Akter and Ashraf Siddiqui, the other two individuals sent to jail are Nesar Ahmed, former Organising Secretary of Cumilla District Chhatra League, and Mosharraf Hossain Sarkar, former Organising Secretary of the Nabinagar Upazila unit of the Awami League.
Police arrested all of them during raids conducted in the Jigatola area of the capital on Saturday.
According to court sources, Shamima Akter was sent to jail in a case filed with Paltan Police Station on 24 September 2024.
Case documents state that on 28 October 2023, when the BNP held a grand rally in the capital, the Awami League organised a counter-rally aiming to thwart the BNP’s programme. Subsequently, Awami League activists—allegedly with police support—attacked the BNP rally in Nayapaltan, resulting in the immediate death of a Jubo Dal leader.
The petition seeking the imprisonment of Ashraf Siddiqui and the two others states that the accused were involved in a conspiracy to instil fear among the public and obstruct state functions, with the aim of threatening the country’s sovereignty.
