Police abduct Ghulam Azam’s son: Family

Police have abducted the son of a top Bangladeshi war crimes convict, his family claimed yesterday, the latest in a series of forced disappearances of opposition leaders' children, AFP reports. More than 30 plainclothes officers seized Abdullahil Amaan Azmi, formerly a decorated brigadier general in Bangladesh's powerful army and the son of war criminal Ghulam Azam, from his home in the capital Dhaka on Monday evening, his family said in a statement.
"The officers cordoned off the whole street before breaking down the door and forcibly entering the family home, blindfolding the caretaker and severely beating him until he fell unconscious," the statement said. The police had no warrant and gave no reason for arresting Azmi, the family said.
"No official acknowledgement of his arrest has yet been made, without which there are credible fears for a possible extrajudicial abduction," the statement said.
Azmi's father Ghulam Azam, the former head of Bangladesh's largest Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), was sentenced to 90 years in prison in 2013 for war crimes during the 1971 independence war against Pakistan. He died in prison in 2014.
The alleged abduction came weeks after similar incidents -- involving two other sons of opposition leaders convicted of war crimes -- which were blamed on plainclothes policemen in Dhaka.
"We don't know anything about these incidents," a national police spokesman told AFP.
Bangladesh's highest court is also set to decide the fate of another top Islamist leader who was sentenced to death in 2014 for war crimes.

Police abduct Ghulam Azams son: Family

Police have abducted the son of a top Bangladeshi war crimes convict, his family claimed yesterday, the latest in a series of forced disappearances of opposition leaders children, AFP reports. More than 30 plainclothes officers seized Abdullahil Amaan Azmi, formerly a decorated brigadier general in Bangladeshs powerful army and the son of war criminal Ghulam Azam, from his home in the capital Dhaka on Monday evening, his family said in a statement. The officers cordoned off the whole street before breaking down the door and forcibly entering the family home, blindfolding the caretaker and severely beating him until he fell unconscious, the statement said. The police had no warrant and gave no reason for arresting Azmi, the family said. No official acknowledgement of his arrest has yet been made, without which there are credible fears for a possible extrajudicial abduction, the statement said. Azmis father Ghulam Azam, the former head of Bangladeshs largest Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), was sentenced to 90 years in prison in 2013 for war crimes during the 1971 independence war against Pakistan. He died in prison in 2014. The alleged abduction came weeks after similar incidents -- involving two other sons of opposition leaders convicted of war crimes -- which were blamed on plainclothes policemen in Dhaka. We dont know anything about these incidents, a national police spokesman told AFP. Bangladeshs highest court is also set to decide the fate of another top Islamist leader who was sentenced to death in 2014 for war crimes.