Joy defends Shafik arrest
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinas son Sajeeb Wazed Joy yesterday defended senior journalist Shafik Rehmans arrest saying Rehman had several meetings with those convicted in the US for plotting to kidnap him. Joy, also the ICT affairs advisor to the prime minister, said Rehman had meetings with Rizve Ahmed Caesar and Johannes Thaler, who were convicted in the US for plotting to kidnap and kill him. Confidential FBI files on my location in the US were hidden in a secret place in Shafik Rehmans home. He admits to receiving them from convicted former FBI agent Robert Lustyk, he wrote on his Facebook page yesterday. He concluded his status writing a open-ended question asking whether anyone would lie about the arrest of Rehman. Anyone wants to try and lie about this anymore? he questioned. Earlier yesterday, The Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) claimed that it has seized some confidential documents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the US on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinas son Sajeeb Wazed Joy from the residence of Shafik Rehman. Joys Facebook status came hours after the DB seizure. On March 4, last year, a US court sentenced Caesar, 36, and Johannes Thaler to 42 months and 30 months in prison respectively for involvement in a bribery scheme with Robert Lustyik, a former FBI Special Agent, who worked on counterintelligence squad. Caesar is the son of Mohammad Ullah Mamun, vice-president of the BNPs cultural wing JASAS. Caesar sought confidential law-enforcement information regarding a Bangladeshi political figure, apparently Joy, according to a US Justice Department press release issued on March 4.
