Dhaka, Aug 11 (IANS) A Bangladesh court on Monday placed Awami League leader and former MP Solaiman Selim on a three-day remand in connection with an alleged murder case linked to last year’s July demonstrations, local media reported.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate GM Farhan Istiak passed the order following a petition filed by the investigation officer of the case seeking a seven-day remand.
After the hearing, the judge remanded the former lawmaker from Dhaka-7 constituency for three days on charges of alleged murder of Khalid Hasan Saifullah, a first-year student of Ideal College in Dhaka, reports leading Bangladeshi daily, Jugantor.
Reports suggest that on July 18, 2024, Saifullah was shot in the Azimpur Government Residential Area of Lalbagh during the violent student protests.
Subsequently, on August 19, his father, Kamrul Hasan, filed a murder case with Lalbagh Police Station, accusing 52 people, including former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in the case.
Selim was initially arrested on the night of November 13 last year from a residence in Dhaka’s Gulshan by Chawkbazar police.
Later on November 27, the Dhaka court ordered a seven-day remand for Selim in two separate cases filed over the killing of Rakib Hawlader and Khaled Hasan Saifullah during the July demonstrations.
Earlier this year, in March, the court again remanded Salim for three days in a case filed over the alleged killing of madrasa student Shahenur Rahman during the same student protests.
This development adds to the increasing number of cases filed against the Awami League leaders and associated individuals, which it claims are being orchestrated by the Muhammad Yunus regime to suppress Hasina’s party.
The Awami League has earlier highlighted a “collapse of the justice system” in Bangladesh amid a “tsunami of fake cases” since the fall of the democratically elected Hasina government.
The party accused the interim government’s Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus of remaining “silently complicit,” as opposition leaders, journalists, and even citizens became targets of legal harassment.
Analysts reckon the developments as a major political vendetta being pursued by the interim government led by Yunus, as several cases were filed against the former PM and her supporters on frivolous grounds, immediately after her ouster in August 2024.
The unceremonious exit of Hasina last August was globally seen as a major setback to the democratic set-up in the country. The interim government has also received massive criticism for providing shelter to radical and extremist Islamic outfits.
–IANS
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