Ex-minister Latif Siddiqui arrested
Detective Branch officers arrested former minister Abdul Latif Siddiqui from his Gulshan residence on Wednesday in connection with a crimes-against-humanity case over the killings surrounding the Hefazat-e-Islam rally at Shapla Chattar in 2013.
He was arrested at around 6:00pm on the basis of a warrant issued by the International Crimes Tribunal, said Shafiqul Islam, additional commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Detective Branch.
Latif was subsequently taken to the DB office and will be produced before the tribunal on Thursday, the DB chief said.
The International Crimes Tribunal-2 has taken cognisance of formal charges against 41 people, including former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and former army chief General Aziz Ahmed, over the events surrounding the Hefazat rally at Shapla Chattar in Motijheel on May 5, 2013.
Arrest warrants have also been issued against Hasina and other absconding accused in the case.
A three-member tribunal headed by Chairman Nazrul Islam passed the order on Monday after accepting the formal charges submitted by the prosecution.
Earlier on Wednesday, Latif appeared before a court in an anti-terrorism case filed with Shahbagh Police Station.
Speaking to journalists at the court premises, he said he had been named as accused number 10 in the Shapla Chattar killings case.
He also said that he planned to surrender before the International Crimes Tribunal the following week if police did not arrest him beforehand.
The 41 accused include Sheikh Hasina, Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, Shamsul Haque Tuku, Hasanul Haque Inu, Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, Abdur Razzaque, Mahbubul Alam Hanif, Hasan Mahmud Chowdhury, AFM Bahauddin Nasim, Abdul Latif Siddiqui, Mrinal Kanti Das, Jahangir Kabir Nanak, Dipu Moni, Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya, Omar Faruk Chowdhury, Salauddin Mahmud, Imran H Sarker, Shahriar Kabir, Mozammel Babu and Farzana Rupa.
Others named in the case are Hasan Mahmud Khandaker, AKM Shahidul Haque, Javed Patwari, Benazir Ahmed, Mokhlesur Rahman, General Aziz Ahmed, Ziaul Ahsan, Mujibur Rahman, Abdul Jalil Mondol, Sheikh Md Maruf Hasan, Mahbub Hossain, Monirul Islam, Anwar Hossain, Muhammad Ashrafuzzaman, SM Mehedi Hasan, Harun-or-Rashid, Biplob Kumar Sarker, Syed Nurul Islam, Md Asaduzzaman, SM Shibli Noman and BM Farman Ali.
With Latif’s arrest, nine accused in the case are now in custody.
The eight others are former ministers Dipu Moni and Shamsul Haque Tuku, retired major general Ziaul Ahsan, former inspector general of police AKM Shahidul Haque, Shahriar Kabir, former deputy inspector general Abdul Jalil Mondol, and journalists Farzana Rupa and Mozammel Babu.
