BNP to hold countrywide demo today

Bangladesh Nationalist Party will have a countrywide demonstration today to protest against a High Court verdict that awarded its senior vice-chairman Tarique Rahman seven-year jail term on Thursday.
BNP chairperson’s advisory council member Khandker Mahbub Hossain said BNP thinks that the judgement is ‘contrary to justice’ and that an appeal petition will be filed when Tarique returns home.
He has been staying in London since 2008.
BNP at a news conference at the party’s central office in the city announced the programme on Friday, a day after the High Court sentenced Tarique to seven-year imprisonment with a fine of Tk 20
crore after scrapping his acquittal in a money laundering case.
Khandker Mahbub said Tarique is not involved in any money laundering event and that his only offence is that he is ‘one of the major leaders of BNP’ and son of late president, Ziaur Rahman.
He said the High Court held the trial ‘unilaterally’ and that no lawyer could argue in favour of Tarique because he defied summons.
Khandker Mahbub said the money laundering case accusing Tarique was filed in 2009 based on some incidents that took place between 2003 and 2006 to politically ‘harass’ and ‘belittle’ Tarique before the general people.
He said time would come when Tarique would be able to return home and they would move for appeal against the High Court verdict and would be served with justice.
‘The people will then understand that the government acted unjustly and punished Tarique out of political vendetta,’
he said.
Asked whether they would immediately appeal against the HC verdict, he said the country’s law requires Tarique to appear before the court for filing an appeal petition.
BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi at the briefing said that the protest rally would be held at metropolitan cities including Dhaka and all other district headquarters across the country.
Khandaker Mahbub insisted that not a single paisa from Bangladesh was siphoned off.
When asked to respond to the law minister’s remarks made on Thursday that the lower court acquitted Tarique under influence, Mahbub, instead, asked the reporter to think if BNP as a party could influence the court, then, in what extent the government could influence the judiciary.
He claimed that the said money transaction was made in Singapore in a legal way.
He said there was no lawyer to represent Tarique Rahman as he was ‘absconding.’
BNP joint secretary general Mahbub Uddin Khokon, also the incumbent SCBA secretary, addressed the briefing.
BNP standing committee members Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, ASM Hannan Shah, Mirza Abbas, Goyeshwar Chandra Roy and Nazrul Islam Khan, vice chairmen
Abdullah Al Noman, Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yusuf, joint secretary generals Mojibar Rahman Sarwar and Khairul Kabir Khokon among others were present.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net