(From agencies)
Bangladesh police on Saturday took a senior journalist on a five-day remand for plotting to abduct and murder Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy.
Three plain-clothes officers entered 81-year-old Shafik Rehman’s home in Dhaka early Saturday posing as crew from a private television channel and took him away, his wife Taleya Rehman said.
The officers said they found evidence linking the editor to a conspiracy to murder Joy.
However, earlier in the day, they said he was arrested in a sedition case.
BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia condemned the arrest and demanded Rehman’s immediate release.
The government has started a war against people of an independent state. After snatching away their voting rights, freedom of expression is also being curtailed, Khaleda said.
Jamaat-e-Islami described the arrest as unjust adding it was a political move to harass Rehman.
Rehman, who used to edit the weekly Jai Jai Din, was a harsh critic of the government during General Ershad’s dictatorship. It was later banned by Ershad.
The weekly turned into a daily newspaper in 2006. Rehman was asked to leave in 2008 for his strong views against the military regime of the time.
He is a sympathiser and informal adviser of BNP.