A special court has ordered a Bangladeshi who worked as a UN human rights expert to jail in connection with a corruption case, her lawyers said Friday. Sigma Huda, a lawyer appointed by the United Nations in 2004 as an independent expert on people trafficking, was sent to jail late Thursday pending the start of a trial planned for Monday, prosecution lawyer Mosharraf Hossain Kajal said. Huda has been accused of abetting her husband, former communications minister Nazmul Huda, in extorting more than 20 million takas (US$294,000) from a construction firm while he was still in office, Kajal said.
Nazmul served in the government of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia before its term ended in 2006. Nazmul was arrested in February as part of an anti-corruption drive by BangladeshÂ’s military-backed interim government that assumed power a month earlier following violent clashes over electoral reforms that left more than 30 people killed.
On Thursday, Huda arrived at the court by an ambulance from a hospital where she was being treated for a cardiac problem, her lawyer, Borhan Uddin said. From the court, she was first taken to Dhaka Central Jail before being admitted into the prison cell of a state-run hospital, the lawyer said. Earlier this week, BangladeshÂ’s Supreme Court overturned a bail ruling granted to Huda by the high court, Uddin said.
He said Huda is innocent and that she was being targeted for being outspoken against the military-backed government. Last month, a Bangladesh court blocked Huda from attending the UN Human Rights Council, Uddin said. She has been outspoken about corruption within the countryÂ’s police service, and campaigned on behalf of women and the homeless.
Under international conventions, Huda enjoys certain diplomatic privileges that prevent her arrest or detention while she is acting in her role as a UN rights expert. In June, UN officials asked Bangladesh to clarify her situation after reports she was being prevented from leaving the country.
Meanwhile, leader of Bangladesh’s military-backed emergency government has called for public support for his administration’s graft crackdown, the official BSS news agency said Friday. “The next generation will not excuse us if we fail in this effort,” Fakhruddin Ahmed said, referring to a massive anti-corruption campaign that has seen more than 150 prominent figures detained and others jailed for up to 13 years.
Ahmed, a former central bank governor, said his government was striving to give the country a fresh start by establishing “good governance and a democratic society free from terrorism, anarchy and corruption.” “We shall have to march towards an enlightened future unitedly,” he added, speaking to a military audience in the capital Dhaka on Thursday.