18 Jamaat men held at school

Police yesterday detained 18 alleged leaders and activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir when they were holding “a secret meeting” at a school in the capital's Badda area.

The detainees include Jamaat's Badda unit chief Fakhruddin Keyaetullah, said Abdul Jalil, officer-in-charge of Badda Police Station.

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Later at night, police filed an anti-terror case against the detainees.

The meeting was taking place at the Badda branch of Islamic International School and College. Shamsunnahar Nizami, widow of hanged war criminal Motiur Rahman Nizami, is the principal of the institution, said Jalil.

The school has three branches and Shamsunnahar's office is in the Gulshan branch.       

The detainees were planning to carry out subversive activities ahead of the Supreme Court verdict in the war crimes case against Jamaat leader Mir Quasem Ali, one police official claimed, asking not to be named.

The SC is scheduled on August 24 to hear Mir Quasem's petition, seeking review of his death penalty.

Badda police said they raided the six-storey building around 9:00am on information that a meeting to “hatch conspiracy against the government” was being held there.

Police recovered some anti-government leaflets from the meeting place, said the OC.

The 4th and the 5th floors of the building are occupied by the school and college, while the rest by the building owner and tenants.

Detained Jamaat leader Keyaetullah is a tenant of the building while another detainee, Belal, is the owner, police said.

The OC said a number of female members of Keyaetullah and Belal's families were also taken to the police station for questioning, following which they were released.

HIZB UT-TAHRIR MEN HELD

Police meanwhile detained two Hizb ut-Tahrir activists when they were distributing anti-government leaflets in the capital's Gandaria area yesterday afternoon, said Kazi Mizanur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Gandaria Police Station.

The detainees are Hafizur Rahman Shaheen, a public administration student of Dhaka University and Zahidul Islam, an Islamic history student of Dhaka College.

In Jessore, a central leader of the same outfit was arrested from his house at New Town Sarothi Mor yesterday on charges of plotting subversive and terrorist activities.

Sadikur Rahman Polash, 38, was on bail in a case filed in 2012 in Dhaka. He teaches economics at a government college for girls in Jhenidah, said Mosharraf Hossain, assistant police superintendent of Jessore CID.