BANGLADESH

A Dhaka court on Wednesday ordered into jail BNP's Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and 32 other opposition leaders in an arson attack case.

The leaders appealed for bail after surrendering at the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court in the morning after failing to get bail in the High Court.

Metropolitan speedy trial magistrate Mohammad Erfan Ullah heard the petitions at noon, but refused them bail.

The BNP-led 18-Party Alliance enforced countrywide general strike on Apr 29 and 30 protesting against the disappearance of M Ilias Ali, one of BNP's organising secretaries.

On Apr 29, a vehicle was torched near the PMO and crude bombs were hurled at the Secretariat. Police filed two cases at Shahbagh and Tejgaon accusing the leaders of their alleged involvement in the two incidents.

Fakhrul, Dr Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, M K Anwar, Mirza Abbas, ASM Hannan Shah, Sadeque Hossain Khoka, Liberal Democratic Party president Oli Ahmed and other senior leaders of the coalition were charged in the two cases.

A third High Court bench last Sunday ordered them to surrender in the trial court by Wednesday after the bench of justices Mainul Islam Chowdhury and Nazrul Islam Talukder returned a split decision on their petition for anticipatory bail.

BNP leader Moudud Ahmed, also a defence counsel, told that they filed the bail plea in the trial court in line with the High Court order.