I’m getting death threats: Mitu

Reserved women’s seat MP and National Citizen Party (NCP) leader Dr Mahmudah Mitu has alleged that she has been receiving death threats through direct phone calls and WhatsApp messages for the past seven days.

She said she had received similar threats in the past as well.

Mitu made the allegations in a Facebook post on Friday (November 13), explaining why she became emotional and lost her temper during a parliamentary session on Thursday (November 12).

In her post, she said she had become deeply emotional in Parliament because of what she described as insulting remarks directed at July uprising coordinators and activists.

She referred to the sacrifices of hundreds of people killed and injured during the July uprising, including Hannan Masud and Nahid Islam, saying the parliament stood on their sacrifices.

“Yet, when they cannot respond to their arguments, they resort to addressing them informally and calling them ‘ill-mannered’ in Parliament,” she wrote.

Mitu said she had raised her voice when Hannan Masud was repeatedly told to sit down and called ‘ill-mannered’ during the session.

She said she had shouted that threats to kill people and setting fire to their homes were realities faced by them.

“Those who move around through political compromises will never understand how much courage it takes to do politics while the safety of one’s parents, children and oneself remains uncertain,” she wrote.

Expressing concern over her personal security, Mitu said she had been receiving death threats directly through phone calls and WhatsApp for seven consecutive days.

She also expressed concern that her allegations might be played down, referring to the case of Nusrat.
At the end of her post, she recalled a statement by slain activist Osman Hadi, saying that people would not be concerned until bullets struck their own heads and necks.