DHAKA, 22 July 2007 — Bangladesh’s detained former Prime Minister Hasina Wajed fears she may not get a fair trial under the army-backed interim government, her lawyer said yesterday.
Senior lawyer Abdul Matin Khasru, who served as law minister during Hasina’s 1996-2001 tenure, was speaking to Reuters a day after meeting her at a house converted into a prison inside Parliament.
Hasina, chief of the Awami League, was arrested at her home on Monday and sent to jail to face extortion charges.
“I may not get justice, because they filed the case to expel me from politics and block my candidature in the coming election,” Khasru quoted Hasina as saying.
Police filed two cases against Hasina in June for extorting 80 million taka ($1.16 million) from two businessmen. Monday’s arrest was related to one of those cases.
Lawyers said if convicted, Hasina may have to serve three to five years in jail and won’t be eligible for elections.
Bangladesh has been under a state of emergency imposed by the army-backed interim administration, which took over in January and launched a crackdown on politicians ahead of elections planned for late next year.
More than 170 political figures including Tareque Rahman, Khaleda’s elder son and presumed political heir, have been detained for graft and abuse of power.
Hasina told her lawyer she had been harassed during her arrest.
“They can’t mistreat a leader of a major political party and a former prime minister in such a manner,” Hasina told Khasru.
She said she had been deprived of minimum amenities such as television and newspapers in prison.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Dhaka University teachers took classes wearing black badges yesterday morning as part of their protest against the arrest of Hasina and the “harassment” of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson Khaleda Zia “by the government.”
Dhaka University Teachers’ Association (DUTA), at an emergency meeting on Thursday, took the decision to wear black badges yesterday and abstain from classes for a half-day today. DUTA members demanded immediate release of Hasina and also the resignation of Law Adviser Mainul Hosein for his “biased” activities.
The army-backed government has posted on round-the-clock duty a doctor and a nurse to take care of the health of Hasina since Wednesday.
Dr. Suraiya Bulbul and nurse Selina Banu have been posted to take care of the health conditions of Hasina, Deputy Inspector General (Prison) Samsul Haider Siddiqui told newsmen yesterday.
In another development, a veteran former student leader Ferdous Ahmed Qureshi yesterday formally announced the name of the party he initiated as “Progressive Democratic Party” and said it would contest in all the 300 constituencies in next general election scheduled late next year.
He hoped to win the next general election, which he believes, would be held by the end of 2008. “The name was decided a long time ago. The name of the party will be Progressive Democratic Party,” Qureshi said.
