Shafik Rehman, the editor of the Daily Jai Jai Din, who has been sentenced to seven years in prison, surrendered to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court in Dhaka on Monday (30 September) in connection to a case filed over conspiracy to kidnap and murder Sajib Wazed Joy, son of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
He sought bail after his surrender, and a hearing was scheduled to take place shortly thereafter before Metropolitan Magistrate Mahbubul Haque, said Shafik Rehman’s lawyers, Syed Zainul Abedin Mejbah and Shakil Ahmed.
Mejbah stated that the judicial court had previously issued a seven-year sentence in absentia, citing Shafik Rehman as a fugitive. The interim government has temporarily suspended his sentence for one year.
"We will seek bail on the condition of appeal. If we receive a copy of the case documents, he will surrender to the Metropolitan Session Judge's Court," Mejbah added.
In the case filed over a plot to allegedly kidnap and kill Sajib Wazed Joy, then Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Asaduzzaman Noor sentenced five individuals, including Mahmudur Rahman and Shafik Rehman, to seven years of rigorous imprisonment on 17 August of the previous year.
The other three convicted individuals include Mohammad Ullah, a leader of the cultural organisation, Rizvi Ahmed Caesar, and Mizanur Rahman Bhuiyan. The court sentenced the defendants under Section 365 of the Penal Code (kidnapping) to five years' imprisonment and a fine of Tk5,000 with one additional month of imprisonment for non-payment of the fine.
Furthermore, they received a two-year sentence under Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy), along with a five thousand takas fine and an additional month in prison for failing to pay. The judge indicated that both sentences would run concurrently.
The case alleges that since September 2011, high-ranking leaders of the BNP and its allied parties in Dhaka, as well as in New York City, the UK, and various locations in Bangladesh, had been planning to abduct and murder Sajib Wazed Joy in the United States.
Inspector Fazlur Rahman of the DB Police filed the case on 3 August 2015 at the Paltan Model Police Station.
