Murad Hassan leaves Bangladesh

Murad Hassan, the disgraced politician who was sacked as a state minister after audio of obscene comments and rape threats made by him surfaced online, has left Bangladesh amid a whirlwind of controversy, bdnews24.com reports.

He took an Emirates airline flight from Dhaka's Shahjalal International Airport to Canada at 1am on Friday.

This was Murad’s first public appearance since Monday after he was ordered by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign as the state minister for information.

Wearing a pair of denim trousers and a blazer, Murad was seen carrying a hand suitcase and a bag on his back while waiting in the airport’s VIP lounge.

An Immigration Police official earlier said they were checking with government agencies to see if there was an embargo on Murad’s overseas travel. The official said Murad bought a ticket for an 11:20 pm flight to Canada.

The flight to Toronto via Dubai, however, was delayed but Murad ultimately faced no obstacle to leaving the country.

Murad had travelled to Canada for around a week in September. He had visited Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver during the tour. He had gone to the US in October. It is not clear whether the visits were official.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Murad apologised to the women of Bangladesh after a scandalous audio leak of his expletive-laden misogynistic comments landed him in hot water.

He submitted his resignation via email that day before sending a hard copy of the letter to the government. The Cabinet Division later published a notice confirming his departure.

The Awami League’s Jamalpur District Unit also stripped him of his position as its health and population affairs secretary, but Murad was nowhere to be seen as public outrage brewed over his remarks.

On Wednesday, he took to Facebook once again to ask for Hasina’s forgiveness. He now faces an investigation into his remarks belittling Dhaka University, particularly the women activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League, after a leader of the ruling party’s student wing filed a general diary.

He had previously skipped a programme on Monday amid widespread criticism while his phone was also unreachable. Media reports said he was staying in a hotel in Chattogram which he left that night.

Ministry officials and local party leaders said Murad did not contact them. The phones of his aides were also switched off, an official said.

Asked about the speculation surrounding Murad’s possible departure from Bangladesh, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said on Thursday that he knew nothing about the former state minister's plans. “Whether he stays or leaves is entirely a personal matter. We have nothing to say about it.”

The 47-year-old doctor by training initially caught the ire of netizens for his offensive remarks about former prime minister Khaleda Zia's granddaughter, prompting calls from the BNP for his resignation.

Amid the furore, an audio clip of a telephone conversation between him and an actress began to circulate on Facebook. In the audio record, Murad was heard using a stream of obscene words and threatening to drag the actress into a five-star hotel and rape her.