A Chittagong court granted two-day remand for seven activists of banned Islamic outfit Hizb-ut -Tahrir in a case under Anti Terrorism Act lodged with Kotwali police station.
Metropolitan Magistrate Nur-e-Alam Bhuiyan passed the order on Wednesday afternoon while police sought a seven-day remand for them, said Chittagong Metropolitan Police Additional Deputy Commissioner (Prosecution) Kazi Muttaki Ibn Minnan.
The seven are Safayet Yasir Iqbal, Ariful Islam, Raihanul Islam, Iftekharul Islam, Nur Mohammed, Arif Mohammed Bilwal and Sufian.
Of them, Safayet and Raihanul are the students of Hazi Muhammed Mohsin Government College while the rest are the students of International Islamic University Chittagong.
Earlier, police on Friday noon nabbed 12 persons suspecting them of being Hizb-ut Tahrir activists from Chittagong city’s Anderkilla Shahi Jame Masjid area when they were distributing their organisational leaflets and attempted to bring out a procession.
Later, the seven were sued in the case as police found their involvement with the banned outfit and freed the five others.
The banned Islamist organisation is trying to get organised in Chittagong city and in the district’s hilly areas secretly while refugee Myanmar nationals are also being engaged in their activities as they provide different facilities to them to strengthen the organisation.
According to Hizb-ut Tahrir sources and police, about 10,000 members of the organisation are working actively across the country where most of them are students of reputed schools, colleges, medical, public and private universities.
About 300 Hizb-ut Tahrir men were nabbed from the port city and the district’s 14 upazilas in the last five years, police sources said.
An Islamic Scholar Sheikh Muhammad Takiuddin al-Nabani of Jerusalem formed Hizb-ut Tahrir in 1953 which has branches across 87 countries including Bangladesh.
The Home Ministry of Bangladesh banned the organisation on September 24, 2009, as its objectives are contradictory with the constitution of the country.
