DHAKA, 29 October 2007 — Bangladesh’s detained former Premier Hasina Wajed yesterday challenged the filing of an extortion case against her under the Emergency Powers Rules. Emergency rules bar an accused from seeking bail until the case is decided.
Hasina’s counsel Shafique Ahmed told newsmen in Dhaka that the petition was likely to be heard in a day or two by a High Court bench.
The Anti-Corruption Commission on Sept. 2 filed a case with the police against Hasina, who is also the Awami League chief, and six others, complaining that the accused received 30 million taka as kickbacks to help a foreign company set up power plants in Bangladesh.
Dhaka University Reopens
Dhaka University, Bangladesh’s biggest, reopened yesterday, with cheerful students thronging the campus, shut down following student violence over two months ago.
The violence in late August was triggered by the presence of army troops at a campus football match, and later spread to other universities across the country.
Authorities ordered Dhaka and six other universities to be closed indefinitely, while a one-man judicial commission was appointed to probe what was the most violent incident since the army-backed interim government took charge in January, in the wake of widespread political unrest.
As tension largely eased, but with the probe still continuing, authorities reopened the Dhaka and three other universities yesterday, after earlier opening the other three that were closed.
“We are happy to be here again,” said a woman student. “We were desperately waiting for the classes and exams to resume before it is too late.”
University officials said they were still negotiating with law enforcement authorities to secure the release of teachers and students detained after the Aug. 22 unrest.
