DHAKA: A court in Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, on Monday denied a bail request from a top opposition leader who was jailed pending a probe following an October anti-government protest that turned violent. After the ruling, the politician would be unable to guide his party ahead of a general election next month.
Magistrate Rajesh Chowdhury announced the verdict during a Chief Metropolitan Court hearing where Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Secretary-General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir appeared. The same court also denied a bail petition from another senior party leader, Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, a former commerce minister.
The BNP, led by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, is boycotting the January 7 election after its demands for a caretaker government to organize the voting were not met. The party accused Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of rigging the 2018 election and said it does not have any faith the next polls will be conducted fairly.
Supporters argue the polls will not reflect the will of voters without the main opposition party’s participation.
Alamgir is the party’s top leader since the ailing Zia is hospitalized and faces seventeen years of jail following her conviction in two corruption cases that her party says were politically motivated.
The boycott of the election by her party means voters in the South Asian country of 166 million have little choice but to reelect Hasina Wajid as she seeks a fourth consecutive term. Hasina Wajid, Zia’s archrival, has promised free and fair polls.
Crackdown in Bangladesh
The party’s decision to boycott the elections comes amid a monthslong crackdown on opposition politicians and other government critics. It says over twenty thousand party people have been arrested across the country since October 28, the day of a massive rally where a police official was killed, allegedly by Khaleda Zia’s supporters.
Alamgir was arrested on sabotage charges the day after the event. On Monday, the magistrate denied a request for him and Khasru to be transferred to police custody for ten days so they could be interrogated, saying police could question them in jail if necessary.
