The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has released Ganajagaran Macha Spokesperson Imran H Sarker hours after he was detained on charges of organising 'unlawful gathering’ at Shahbagh in Dhaka city.
RAB-3 Commander Lt Col Mohammad Emranul Hasan said around 11pm on Wednesday that they quizzed the activist before his release.
Witnesses said Imran was about to join a scheduled protest rally against ‘extrajudicial killings’ in the ongoing crackdown on drugs in front of the National Museum at Shahbagh in the afternoon when the RAB whisked him away.
A Mancha activist said around 11:30pm that Imran was heading home after being released.
RAB spokesman Mufti Mahmud Khan said Imran was detained on charges of organising an ‘unlawful gathering’.
“There are more charges against him. We are looking into the matter,” he said earlier.
The RAB also charged batons to disperse the protesters after the detention of Imran.
Police foiled a rally planned for Monday and said Ganajagaran Mancha had no permission to hold the protest programme.
Imran then announced the demonstration would take place at 4:00 pm on Wednesday at the same venue.
The activists said they had completed all formalities for holding the rally.
Activist Sangeeta Imam said a human-chain demonstration by Bangladesh Chhatra Union against the ‘killings in the name of crackdown on drugs’ was under way at the same venue around 4:30 pm.
Seven to eight plainclothesmen detained Imran when he was on his way to the venue with some other activists at the time, according to her.
Sangeeta also said the uniformed RAB personnel beat up several activists who tried to stop the law enforcers from detaining Imran.
“We wanted to protest as citizens of the state, but we could not do it. Even the UN is speaking against the so-called crossfires in the name of anti-drug operations, but we can’t do it as normal citizens. It’s a matter of shame for us,” she said.
Ganajgaran Mancha has called a news conference for Thursday morning to protest against the detention of Imran and attack on its activists. Chhatra Union has also demanded Imran’s release in a statement.
Shahbagh-based Ganajagaran Mancha came into being in 2013 when the protests demanding maximum punishment of war criminals peaked.
The ruling Awami League and its affiliates later started staying away from the movement.
They also brought allegations against Imran as he continued raising his voice against different other issues including rapes and killings.
Imran, a former leader of the Awami League’s student affiliate Bangladesh Chhatra League, also spoke against the killings in anti-drug operations as the death toll in such incidents crossed 130 in around three weeks.
Although the killings were portrayed as 'deaths in gun battles' by the law-enforcing agencies, human rights activists say these were extralegal killings, bdnews24 reported.
“We support the campaign against drugs. But, no matter how big the culprits are, we should not kill any person without trial. So, we call upon the government to stop extrajudicial killings,” Imran had said after police foiled their rally on Monday.
“And now it appears from the government’s behaviour that Bangladesh is an autocracy. It seems the government is not accountable to the people,” he added.