Arrest warrant issued against Zia's son

Dhaka:  A Bangladeshi court today issued an arrest warrant against Opposition leader Khaleda Zia’s London-based son in a sedition case for delivering a provocative speech.

The Dhaka court issued arrest warrants to Tarique Rahman, the senior vice-chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, and two former journalists of private TV channel Ekushey Television (ETV), The Daily Star reported.

On January 8 last year, a sedition case was filed with the Tejgaon Police Station over the live telecast of a provocative speech by Rahman at a programme in London on January 5. Judge Kamrul Hossain Mollah of the Sessions Judges Court accepted the chargesheet in the sedition case today.

The court also told police to submit a report on the execution of the arrest warrants by November 20. The other two accused Mahathir Farooki Khan and Kanak Sarwar went into hiding after securing bail. Ekushey TV’s former chairman Abdus Salam, also an accused in the case, is now on bail.

According to the case, Rahman instigated his partymen by delivering provocative speech against law enforcers which led the country to anarchy at that time. Rahman, who lives in London, is the eldest son of Zia, two-times former prime minister.