Journalist Shafik Rehman acquitted in Joy murder attempt case

A court in Dhaka on Tuesday acquitted senior journalist Shafik Rehman in a case over an alleged plot to abduct and murder Sajeeb Wazed Joy, the son of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

Dhaka Additional Metropolitan Sessions Court Judge Tariq Ezaz delivered the judgment on Tuesday in presence of the journalist.

Shafik’s lawyer Syed Zainul Abedin Mezbah had previously argued at a court hearing: “This so-called case is over a plot to abduct and kill Hasina’s son Joy. The victim did not file the case himself. Police filed it on their own initiative. The defendant is a 90-year-old who was taken into remand. There is no confessional statement in the case.”

“A total of 12 witnesses testified in the case. The day Joy testified, we saw the judge running after him after recording his testimony. That should tell you what type of trial it has been.”

The case, filed in 2015 by Detective Branch Inspector Fazlur Rahman, alleged that BNP leaders conspired in the U.S., U.K., and Bangladesh to abduct Joy. In 2023, a lower court had sentenced Rehman and four others, including journalist Mahmudur Rahman, to seven years in prison under sections 365 and 120B of the Penal Code. Rehman’s sentence was later suspended by the Home Ministry in September 2023.

Mahmudur Rahman was also acquitted earlier this year.