BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Tuesday alleged that the government was trying to suppress the ongoing movement of people by sending opposition leaders and activists to jail and establishing its control on the state machinery.
His comments came soon after the High Court upheld the jail terms of BNP leaders Iqbal Hassan Mahmood Tuku, Amanullah Aman and his wife Sabera Aman in separate graft cases.
In another development, a chartered accountant on Tuesday testified in a graft case against BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman and his wife Zubaida Rahman.
Meanwhile, a Rajshahi court on Tuesday yet again put district BNP Convenor Abu Sayeed Chand, who during a public rally on May 19 threatened to send Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to grave, on a three-day fresh remand.
“These verdicts have manifested that the government has grabbed the entire state machinery, including the judiciary. They are trying to subdue the democratic movement by sending the opposition leaders and activists to jail with dictated verdicts,” Fakhrul said.
“We think these are dictated judgments. The democratic movement can never be stopped by such judgments. People must realise their rights," the BNP leader added.
Fakhrul was talking to reporters after placing wreaths at the grave of BNP founder General Ziaur Rahman in the capital's Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, marking the former president's 42nd death anniversary.
Earlier in the day, a High Conch bench upheld the jail terms of Tuku, Aman and Sabera, dismissing the appeals filed by the trio challenging the lower court verdicts against them.
The court also directed them to surrender before the lower courts concerned in two weeks in connection with the cases filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission on charges of acquiring wealth beyond a known source of income in 2007.
On June 21, 2007, a special court sentenced Aman to 13 and three years in jail respectively.
On the other hand, a special court sentenced Tuku to a nine-year jail term on November 15, 2007.
In Rajshahi, Judge Mahbub Alam of Judicial Magistrate Court-5 passed the remand order of BNP leader Chand on the completion of a five-day interrogation by police, who produced him in the court seeking a 10-day remand again in the case filed with Puthia police station.
Our Rajshahi Correspondent Abdullah Al Dulal contributed to this report
