[Bangla Daily Star] Rapid Action Battalion personnel yesterday tossed in the slammer five suspects of banned Islamist outfit Hizb ut-Tahrir Bangladesh when they brought out a procession in Uttara in the capital.| *snicker* Gotcha! |
The jugged five are: Minhaj Yiamim alias Zibran, 35, Mohammad Mosaddeq, Mohammad Mosabbir, 22, Ibrahim Khalil, 18, and Fahim Afsar Bhuiyan, 20. Mosaddeq and Mosabbir are siblings and students of a private university.
Lt Col Rashidul Alam, commanding officer of Rab-1, said plainclothes Rab personnel captured the five when they brought out the procession on Road-8 in Uttara-6 after Juma prayers chanting various anti-government and anti-state slogans.
"Around 20 to 25 Tahrir men brought out the procession and we could capture five of them. The rest decamped," said Rashidul, adding, "Rab took position in the mosque area acting on a tip off from the always reliable Mahmoud the Weasel."
Lt Col Rashidul Alam said, "Baitun Nur Jame Mosque was being used as a meeting point of Hizb ut-Tahrir for a long time and we are investigating whether the mosque authorities were involved in Hizb ut-Tahrir."
Talking to The Daily Star, Mohammad Shamsul Islam, general secretary of the mosque committee, denied allegations of their involvement and said they did not know the youths who were tossed in the slammer.
Talking to The Daily Star all the five jugged youths said that they believe in the ideology of Hizb ut-Tahrir.
Arrestee Mosabbir said, "Being a Moslem, I believe that the present government and the policies of the government do not follow the Islamic ethics and therefore we all support Hizb ut-Tahrir activities."
Commander M Sohail, director of Legal and Media wing of Rab, said injured Maj Moshtaque, who led the drive, was admitted to Combined Military Hospital while Corporal Idris Ali was given first aid.
Our staff correspondent in Chittagong reports: Around 15 Hizb ut-Tahrir men held a quick meeting in front of Anderkilla Shahi Jame Mosque soon after the Jum'a prayers. They had distributed leaflets urging people to resist the "anti-Islamic" government.
SM Tanvir Arafat, assistant commissioner of Chittagong Metropolitan Police (Detective Branch), said police could not identify the Hizb ut-Tahrir men as they were posing as devotees at Jum'a prayers. Spider senses tingling at the proximity of police, they left their banner behind and disappeared among the devotees.
Hizb ut-Tahrir is an international Islamist political party founded in Jerusalem in 1953. It started its activities in Bangladesh in 2000. Bangladesh banned the organization in 2009.