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Mahmudur Rahman, the editor of the Amar Desh newspaper, has been acquitted following an appeal against his seven-year sentence in a case involving the alleged "kidnapping and murder" plot against Sajeeb Wazed Joy, the son of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
The verdict was delivered on Monday by Dhaka's Fourth Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge Tariq Ejaz, bdnews24.com reports.
Mahmudur was present in court when the verdict was announced. Reacting to the acquittal, he said, "I am happy with the verdict. Had the fascist government not fallen, I might not have been acquitted."
On August 17, 2023, a Dhaka court sentenced Mahmudur, former Jai Jai Din newspaper editor Shafik Rehman, Mohammad Ullah Mamun, vice-president of pro-BNP organisation Jatiyatabadi Samajik Sangskritik Sangstha, his son Rizve Ahmed Caesar, and Mizanur Rahman Bhuiyan, a businessman living in the US, to seven years in jail in connection with the case.
Cesar had been sentenced to prison in New York eight years ago for bribing an FBI official to obtain classified information about Joy. The case was filed on August 3, 2015, by the then inspector of the Detective Branch of Police Fazlur Rahman at Paltan Model Police Station.
The case accused high-ranking leaders of the BNP and allied parties of conspiring to kidnap and murder Joy.
According to the charges pressed against the accused in 2018, BNP loyalist Mamun, and other top leaders of the party and its allies gathered at their offices in Dhaka’s Naya Paltan, New York, and the UK at some point before September 2011 to chalk out a plan to murder Joy after abducting him.
Following an investigation, the police filed a chargesheet against the five individuals on February 19, 2018. Twelve witnesses, including Joy, testified in court.
On August 17, 2023, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Asaduzzaman Nur sentenced five people, including Shafik and Mahmudur, to seven years in prison.
Both Shafik and Mahmudur had been arrested and imprisoned, but after being granted bail, they moved to the UK. The verdict was delivered in their absence.
After a change in government, Mahmudur returned to the country and was granted bail on October 3, 2023, with the condition of appealing. He filed his appeal on December 12 and was granted bail on the same day.
Shafik also appealed and was granted bail. His appeal is still pending a hearing.