Court extends remand of three lawyers

A Chittagong court yesterday granted fresh remand for all the three lawyers who were arrested for allegedly financing militant outfit Shaheed Hamza Brigade. The court of senior Judicial Magistrate, Mosaddek Minhaz, sent Barrister Shakila Farzana, daughter of former BNP whip Syed Wahid Alam, on a 48-hour remand. The other two lawyers, Md Hasanuzzaman Liton and Mahfuz Chowdhury Bapon, were remanded in police custody for 72 hours. The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested the three lawyers in a case filed at the Hathzarari police station under the Anti-terrorism Act. The RAB sought a five-day remand of the accused from the court yesterday morning. Abul Hasem, District Public Prosecutor, told The Independent, “A leader of Hamza Brigade confessed that he got money from Shakila Farzana. She also confessed that she was in touch with the Hefazat-e-Islam militant.  To know more about the militants and their sources of money, she needs to quiz. Hence, we pleaded with the court to grant a further remand of the three.” On February 19, the RAB arrested 12 militants at Al Madrasatul Abu Bakar in Hathazari and recovered training material and manuals.
Acting on a tip off provided by some suspected detained militant, the RAB discovered a training camp in Lot Monihill under Shadhanpur union in the Banskhali area of Chittagong and recovered a huge cache of firearms and training equipment on February 22. The defence counsel for the three arrested lawyers submitted bail application, which was rejected by the court, granting fresh remand of the accused to the police.
Defence counsel, Abdus Sattar, told The Independent, “Regarding a specific allegation, the three lawyers were quizzed. They also deposed under Section 164.  Hence, remand for the same type of complainant cannot be granted again. There is no precedence of granting remand for the same allegation twice.”
On Sunday, the three  lawyers gave their ‘confessional’ statements before a Banskhali court in Chittagong under section 164 following a four-day remand. The three lawyers were arrested by the RAB on the night of August 18 from their houses in the Dhanmondi area of the capital.
On August 19, RAB-7 commander, Lt. Col. Miftah Uddin Ahmed, said in a press briefing, “After verifying the different bank accounts in accordance with the directions of the court and with the help of Bangladesh Bank, it was found that the arrested lawyers had given Tk. 1.08 crore to the militant outfit for procuring weapons.” “Barrister Shakila Farzana provided Tk. 52 lakh in two phases (Tk. 25 lakh and Tk. 27 lakh), while advocate Md Hasanuzzaman Liton gave Tk. 31 lakh and advocate Mahfuz Chowdhury Bapon Tk. 25 lakh to the militant outfit. We’ve information that a UAE national, Allama Libadi, is another financer of the militant group,” he added.
The RAB-7 recently learnt about the Shaheed Hamza Brigade, which is operating in Chittagong. The elite force also busted its hideouts in Hathazari, Banshkhali and Halishahar areas of Chittagong, and arrested 29 members of the outfit. According to the RAB, Shaheed Hamza Brigade became active from November 2013. The terrorist outfit’s objective was to carry out subversive activities at home and abroad. Earlier, on April 13, the elite force had arrested four militants of this group from Chittagong. As many as five AK-22 rifles, five pistols, a gun and a huge cache of arms were recovered from their possession.

 

Court extends remand of three lawyers

A Chittagong court yesterday granted fresh remand for all the three lawyers who were arrested for allegedly financing militant outfit Shaheed Hamza Brigade. The court of senior Judicial Magistrate, Mosaddek Minhaz, sent Barrister Shakila Farzana, daughter of former BNP whip Syed Wahid Alam, on a 48-hour remand. The other two lawyers, Md Hasanuzzaman Liton and Mahfuz Chowdhury Bapon, were remanded in police custody for 72 hours. The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested the three lawyers in a case filed at the Hathzarari police station under the Anti-terrorism Act. The RAB sought a five-day remand of the accused from the court yesterday morning. Abul Hasem, District Public Prosecutor, told The Independent, A leader of Hamza Brigade confessed that he got money from Shakila Farzana. She also confessed that she was in touch with the Hefazat-e-Islam militant. To know more about the militants and their sources of money, she needs to quiz. Hence, we pleaded with the court to grant a further remand of the three. On February 19, the RAB arrested 12 militants at Al Madrasatul Abu Bakar in Hathazari and recovered training material and manuals. Acting on a tip off provided by some suspected detained militant, the RAB discovered a training camp in Lot Monihill under Shadhanpur union in the Banskhali area of Chittagong and recovered a huge cache of firearms and training equipment on February 22. The defence counsel for the three arrested lawyers submitted bail application, which was rejected by the court, granting fresh remand of the accused to the police. Defence counsel, Abdus Sattar, told The Independent, Regarding a specific allegation, the three lawyers were quizzed. They also deposed under Section 164. Hence, remand for the same type of complainant cannot be granted again. There is no precedence of granting remand for the same allegation twice. On Sunday, the three lawyers gave their confessional statements before a Banskhali court in Chittagong under section 164 following a four-day remand. The three lawyers were arrested by the RAB on the night of August 18 from their houses in the Dhanmondi area of the capital. On August 19, RAB-7 commander, Lt. Col. Miftah Uddin Ahmed, said in a press briefing, After verifying the different bank accounts in accordance with the directions of the court and with the help of Bangladesh Bank, it was found that the arrested lawyers had given Tk. 1.08 crore to the militant outfit for procuring weapons. Barrister Shakila Farzana provided Tk. 52 lakh in two phases (Tk. 25 lakh and Tk. 27 lakh), while advocate Md Hasanuzzaman Liton gave Tk. 31 lakh and advocate Mahfuz Chowdhury Bapon Tk. 25 lakh to the militant outfit. Weve information that a UAE national, Allama Libadi, is another financer of the militant group, he added. The RAB-7 recently learnt about the Shaheed Hamza Brigade, which is operating in Chittagong. The elite force also busted its hideouts in Hathazari, Banshkhali and Halishahar areas of Chittagong, and arrested 29 members of the outfit. According to the RAB, Shaheed Hamza Brigade became active from November 2013. The terrorist outfits objective was to carry out subversive activities at home and abroad. Earlier, on April 13, the elite force had arrested four militants of this group from Chittagong. As many as five AK-22 rifles, five pistols, a gun and a huge cache of arms were recovered from their possession.