Shafik tortured in remand, claims Taleya

Journalist Shafik Rehman’s wife Taleya Rehman on Wednesday alleged that he was being tortured in custody.
At a discussion at the National Press Club in Dhaka, she also demanded immediate release of the 82-year-old journalist.
Taleya said that she heard that Shafik might be implicated in several other cases.
Shafik was arrested and remanded in custody for five days for interrogation in a case filed on allegation of ‘plotting to abduct and murder’ prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy in the United States.
The case was filed by Detective Branch of police inspector Fazlur Rahman with Paltan police station in August 2015.
Taleya said that the allegations brought against Shafik ‘is totally baseless and fictitious.’
She said, ‘I know him, as his wife, for 59 years…He can never be involved in any criminal activity.’
Police on Wednesday claimed that Shafik admitted that he had joined a meeting in the United States with people allegedly involved in the ‘conspiracy.’
Dhaka Metropolitan Police made the claim after a team of the Detective Branch raided Shafik’s office and house at Eskaton and seized some documents from there.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party standing committee member Nazrul Islam Khan on Wednesday termed unusual the media reports stating that Shafik confessed to his involvement in the ‘plot’, United News of Bangladesh reported.
‘We don’t know how they [police] have behaved with him in custody and what he has said there under which situation, but it seems to us unusual…It also seems to us incredible that a peace-loving, patriot and democratic minded person like him could have involvement in such an incident,’ he said.
The BNP leader came up with the remarks while talking to reporters after placing wreaths at BNP founder Ziaur Rahman’s grave along with leaders and activist of Jatiyatabadi Swechchhasebak Dal, marking the release of its few leaders from jail.
Nazrul said that as a journalist, Shafik Rehman could collect information about the prime minister’s son’s ‘corruption and misdeeds’ on professional purposes.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net