‘Plot to kill’: Joy gives deposition in court

Sajeeb Wazed Joy, ICT affairs adviser to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, narrated before a Dhaka court yesterday "how journalist Shafik Rehman and four others plotted to abduct and kill him".

Details of the statement could not be known as reporters were not allowed in the courtroom.

The four other accused are: Mahmudur Rahman, former acting editor of now defunct daily Amar Desh; Mohammad Ullah Mamun, vice-president of Jatiyatabadi Samajik Sangskritik Sangstha (Jasas); and his son Rizvi Ahmed Caesar; and Mizanur Rahman Bhuiyan, a businessman living in the United States.

The prime minister's son arrived at the court around 3:20pm amid the presence of a large number of law enforcers.

Dhaka Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Muhammad Asaduzzaman Nur recorded the half-an-hour long statement made by Joy.

Joy sought exemplary punishment of the accused, sources said, quoting Dhaka Metropolitan Public Prosecutor Abdullah Abu.

Due to security reasons, only four lawyers, including the prosecutor, were allowed in the courtroom during the proceedings.

Joy left around 4:00pm.

Earlier, the same court recorded statements of nine witnesses brought by the prosecutors.

The case was filed on August 3, 2015, by the Detective Branch (DB) of police with Paltan Police Station.

Shafik Rehman and Mahmudur Rahman were arrested and have jumped bail.

The DB pressed charges against the five accused on February 20, 2018.

The charge sheet mentioned Mamun, Rizvi and Mizanur as absconding, and Shafik and Mahmudur as the masterminds behind the conspiracy.

Mamun aided and abetted the others, the charge sheet said.

Rizvi collected information on Joy from the FBI and gave it to the other accused, it added.

According to the complaint, Mamun and several top leaders of the BNP and its allies met in the UK, the US and different places in Bangladesh before September 2012 and plotted to abduct and kill Joy.

In March 2015, a US court convicted Rizvi of bribing an FBI special agent for information on a Bangladeshi political figure.

The US justice department did not name the politician.

In a Facebook post on March 9, 2015, Joy accused BNP leaders of conspiring to abduct and kill him.

Shafik, also a British citizen, has worked for various media outlets.