DHAKA, 17 July 2007 — Former Bangladeshi Prime Minister and Awami League President Hasina Wajed was arrested at her Sudha Sadan house here yesterday in an extortion case and sent to jail pending trial.
Hasina, who served as prime minister from 1996 to 2001, was denied bail by a magistrate who sent her to jail ahead of the trial, defense lawyer Abdul Matin Khasru told reporters at the court. Bangladesh, under a state of emergency since mid-January, is being ruled by an interim government that has the support of the country’s powerful military. It has vowed to fight corruption, reform electoral rules, and clean up the nation’s factional — and often violent — politics before holding the next elections.
More than 170 people — most of them associates of Hasina and her rival and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia — have so far been arrested under the anti-corruption drive.
Khasru said Hasina was accused of extorting about 30 million takas ($441,000) from a company in return for allowing it to build a power station while she was in office.
Hasina denied the allegations, saying they were aimed at keeping her from contesting the next elections. “It’s a conspiracy to stop me from speaking for the rights of the people. I’ve done nothing wrong,” Hasina told the court jammed with lawyers and journalists.
The interim government denied there was any conspiracy. “There are specific charges against Hasina. The law will take its own course,” the government’s law adviser Mainul Hosein said.
Hasina, 59, was later taken to a state-owned building that has recently been converted into a jail. Dozens of supporters demonstrated near the court against Hasina’s arrest. “Free Hasina,” the supporters shouted before being driven away by baton-wielding police.
Meanwhile, Hasina’s archrival Khaleda, the leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, was summoned in a tax evasion case and told to appear in court by Aug. 26. “The Dhaka metropolitan magistrates’ court issued a summons on Monday against Khaleda Zia and 10 others for failing to pay taxes for a company that she owns,” said her lawyer Mohammad Sanaullah.
— Additional input from agencies
