Bangladeshi police arrested on Tuesday three of the top leaders of Bangladesh’s largest Islamic party on the rarely-used charge of “offending religious sentiment”.
Motiur Rahman Nizami, the head of Jamaat-e-Islami party, his deputy Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid and top preacher Delwar Hossain Saydee were arrested in the capital Dhaka, city police chief A K M Shahidul Haque said.
The Jamaat leaders have been charged after they claimed Nizami’s alleged persecution at the hands of the ruling Awami League was akin to the suffering of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), he said. “The three leaders had been summoned to appear at a Dhaka court on Tuesday but ignored the order, which lead to an arrest warrant being issued,” he said.
Jamaat-e-Islami has been the country’s largest Islamic party since it was allowed to operate and contest in elections in late 1970s.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 30th, 2010.
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