Rashed Khan Menon -- Image via Workers Party of Bangladesh on Facebook
By Global News Service
The President of the Workers Party of Bangladesh (WPB), 81-year-old former member of parliament and left leader Rashed Khan Menon was arrested at his home on August 22. The following day, a court in Dhaka placed him on a five-day judicial remand in connection with a case related to the death of a man during the quota reform protests.
The case against Khan was filed by the relatives of the deceased, a trader named Abdul Wadud. Wadud was killed during clashes between security forces and protesters in Dhaka on July 19.
The WPB said Khan’s arrest was a “political vendetta,” emphasizing that he neither held an administrative role in Sheikh Hasina’s ousted government nor opposed the student movement’s demand for government job quota reforms, which were at the center of the demonstrations ongoing at the time of Wadud’s death.
The interim government, led by Muhammad Yunus, which took over following the resignation of the previous administration, has filed numerous cases against former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her cabinet ministers. They are being held directly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of protesters in clashes with security forces between mid-July and Hasina’s resignation at the beginning of August.
Khan has been named as a co-accused in several of these cases, although he was not a government official at the time. Previously, he served as the Minister of Civil Aviation, Tourism, and Social Welfare. In the latest administration, the WPB was part of a 14-party alliance led by Hasina’s Awami League.
from the Peoples Dispatch / Globetrotter News Service
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