DHAKA, 25 October 2007 — A Dhaka court yesterday ordered the arrest of Rehana, younger sister of detained Awami League chief and former Prime Minister Hasina Wajed, in an extortion case.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Abdul Fattah issued the arrest warrant after accepting the charges in the case. He also ordered the authorities to confiscate her property in the country.
Two other co-accused in the case, which involves alleged extortion of 30 million taka ($435,000) from a businessman, are Hasina and her relative, former minister Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, who is currently in prison awaiting trial.
The court officials said police filed the charge based on a confession Selim made to police.
Rehana’s lawyer Fazle Noor said the charge was false and that they would continue a legal fight against it.
The court has set Nov. 11 for the next hearing of the case. Businessman Azam Jahangir Chowdhury, managing director of Eastcoast Trading Limited, accused Rehana of involvement in a graft case filed against Hasina and six others.
Restoration of Democracy
Bangladesh’s army chief Gen. Moeen U. Ahmed, now visiting the United States, has reaffirmed that interim government was keen to hold elections “at the earliest” and restore democracy “at any cost.”
Speaking at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., Moeen pledged to “re-establish democracy and root out corruption,” Dhaka newspapers said yesterday.
At Harvard, Hasina’s son Sajib Wazed Joy asked Moeen why his mother was being held in prison in Dhaka.
“I would be the happiest person if she (Hasina) was not found guilty,” Moeen said replying to Joy, Bangladesh’s private television “Channel-i” reported.
The Harvard-educated Joy and his sister Saima Wazed Putul live in the United States, and have vowed to lead an overseas campaign for the freedom of their mother. Some former ministers have already been convicted and sentenced to various prison terms.
