A Dhaka court today withdrew the arrest warrant issued against veteran journalist Shafik Rehman in connection with a 2015 case involving a plot to kidnap and murder Sajeeb Wazed Joy, son of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in the United States.
Dhaka Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Mahbubul Haque granted the order after Rehman voluntarily surrendered to the court and appealed for the withdrawal of the warrant, as part of his plan to challenge his conviction in the case.
“On September 22, the home ministry suspended Rehman’s sentence for one year on the condition that he surrender before the lower court and file an appeal against his conviction,” Rehman’s defense counsel, Syed Joynul Abedin Mejbah, told BSS.
In August 2023, the court, under the jurisdiction of then Dhaka Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Asaduzzaman Nur, convicted and sentenced Rehman along with four others, including former acting editor of Amar Desh Mahmudur Rahman, to seven years in prison.
Other convicted individuals include Jatiyatabadi Samajik Sangskritik Sangstha (Jasas) Vice-President Mohammad Ullah Mamun, his son Rizvi Ahmed Caesar, and expatriate businessman Mizanur Rahman Bhuiyan, who resides in the United States.
The case was filed by police on August 3, 2015, at Paltan Police Station, with formal charges against the five defendants submitted on February 19, 2018. Twelve witnesses, including Joy, testified over the course of the trial.
