Extra-Judicial

No wonder another news was muffled in the Bangladeshi media which took the British Bangladeshis by storm. They were disgusted and annoyed to hear that Barrister Rizwan Hussain was detained by the Zia International Airport in Dhaka, Bangladesh on the charges of trespassing while he claims he was merely helping an elderly. And things took to a dramatic turn when he was handed over to plain cloth joint forces staffs and he was beaten mercilessly and forced to sign false statements that he was sorry for trespassing and he was treated well by the captors. BBC has details.

Here is Rizwan Hussain's full statement to the incident. Meanwhile one Bangladeshi newspaper did finally publish an ISPR press release saying:

the London lawyer became incensed and started using abusive words in English at the top of his voice, and even made threats, the ISPR statement said. Finding no alternative, the on-duty security officer handed Rizwan over to the joint forces, who interrogated him.

The lawyer, however, continued to avoid the issue of violating airport rules, instead trying to extract privileged treatment by mentioning his foreign citizenship and the status of his profession, the press release said. It was at this point, the ISPR statement says, that the members of the joint forces "harassed" barrister Rizwan.

You can see from the picture (courtesy BBC) what the harassment looks like.

I fail to imagine why there is such a need to tarnish Bangladesh's image by acting like a goon by a responsible authority where Mr Hussain (assuming he trespassed) could easily be arrested and handed over to court for the law to take action.

If somebody still can't get it, this is extra-judicial abuse of human rights.

Rizwan Hussain's press Conference: Part 1



Rizwan Hussain's press Conference: Part 2



And this is going to be nasty. The High Court issued a notice on the home secretary, chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh and director general of the Department of Immigration over the alleged assaults on barrister Rizwan Hussain.

The ISPR said that the air force authorities immediately took the taskforce members into custody in accordance with military law and formed a committee to investigate. Looking forward to hear the findings of the committee. I hope the actions of the relevant authorities will be such that no more extra-judicial abuses are done without foreseeing the consequence it brings.

Meanwhile Barrister Hussain, who is also a famous TV presenter in an UK based Bangla TV got wide support from the community via facebook groups and online petitions.