Dhaka/New Delhi: A court in Bangladesh on Monday acquitted Mahmudur Rahman, the editor of Amar Desh newspaper, in a case involving a failed 2015 plot to abduct and kill Sajeeb Wazed Joy, the son of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, in the United States.
The ruling was made by Dhaka’s 4th Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge, Tarique Aziz, who accepted Rahman’s appeal against his earlier conviction.
The judge stated that the charges against Rahman were found to be false and fabricated, leading to the annulment of the trial court’s sentencing, and his acquittal.
Following the judgment, Rahman told reporters that he had finally received justice and vowed to continue his fight against what he described as fascism, which, he said, was also the struggle of the nation.
In August 2022, Rahman had been sentenced to seven years in absentia for his involvement in the plot.
Senior journalist Shafik Rehman, Mohammad Ullah Mamun, Vice-President of the Jatiyatabadi Samajik Sangskritik Sangstha, his son Rizvi Ahmed Caesar, and US-based businessman Mizanur Rahman Bhuiyan also received the same sentence in their absence.
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Rahman returned to Bangladesh on September 27, 2022, after spending more than five years in exile.
Two days later, he surrendered to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court in Dhaka and was sent to jail.
The case was filed on August 3, 2015, after Rahman and Shafik Rehman were arrested.
The complaint alleged that Mamun, along with senior leaders of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), conspired in the UK, the US, and Bangladesh to abduct and kill Joy, who was serving as an adviser to Sheikh Hasina at the time.
Hasina, 77, has been living in India since August 5, 2022, after fleeing Bangladesh following a large student-led protest that led to the collapse of her Awami League’s 16-year rule.
