Latif Siddique, others’ arrest not in best interest of country or govt: David Bergman
None of the 16 detained individuals committed any criminal offence by taking part in the Mancha 71-organised event, says British journalist David Bergman
British journalist and commentator David Bergman has strongly criticised the arrests of organisers and participants of a Mancha 71-organised discussion at Dhaka Reporters Unity, including former minister Abdul Latif Siddique, calling the move not in the best interest of either the government or the country.
In a Facebook post this afternoon (29 August), Bergman wrote, "It is unclear who within the Bangladesh government/police decided that the best way to handle the disruption of the 'Mancha 1971' meeting was by arresting its organisers/participants including the former Awami League politician Latif Siddique.
"But whoever the decision makers were, they certainly were not acting in the best interest of either the government or the country."
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He argued that regardless of whether one agrees or disagrees with what was said or was likely to have been said at the meeting, "and no doubt some of it would have been provocative to the ears of some people and some political parties," none of the 16 detained individuals committed any criminal offence by taking part in the event.
"Political convenience is no justification to arrest people or take away their human rights," he added.
Bergman further said such practices were common under the AL government and are now being repeated by a "range of new political forces."
The journalist warned that the arrests could embolden groups that disrupted the meeting. "And it helps gives the impression – one which I don't think the vast majority of the government intends to give – that the current government is 'against 1971'."
He also criticised the police for filing a case against the detainees under the Anti-Terrorism Act and the court concerned for prohibiting bail, terming the allegations against them "preposterous" and "a straightforward state lie."
"It is reported that the FIR stated that Siddique was 'instigating others to destabilise the country through armed struggle and oust the current interim government'," he noted.
Bergman compared the move to fraudulent cases filed under the AL government, saying the magistrate courts again failed to act as an independent check on "state deceit."
He mentioned that indeed there are political forces who would like to destabilise the government and who would want to postpone the upcoming election.
"Governmental action of this kind, however, will only stoke greater division and discontent, and of course, in its use of the criminal justice system, raises further questions about how much different is the current interim from the previous AL government," he said.
Earlier in the day, 16 people, including former textiles and jute minister Abdul Latif Siddique and Dhaka University Professor Sheikh Hafizur Rahman Karzon, were sent to jail over "conspiring to oust the interim government" in a case filed under the Anti-Terrorism Act at Shahbagh Police Station in the capital.
The investigating officer of the case, Sub-Inspector Toufiq Hasan of Shahbagh Police Station, submitted a petition in this regard today.
The court of Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sarah Farzana granted the request.
The case was filed by Shahbagh Police Station Officer-in-Charge Amirul Islam.
According to the case documents, the attendees of a roundtable titled "Our Great Liberation War and the Constitution of Bangladesh," organised by "Mancha 71," were allegedly provoking others to destabilise the country through armed struggle and conspiring to overthrow the current interim government.
Police said interrogations revealed that Mancha 71 is a platform established on 5 August last year, with the aim of stopping a deep conspiracy to erase and distort the history of the Liberation War.
As part of that target, the roundtable discussion was organised at 10am yesterday (28 August).
