Mufti Amir Hamza put on five-day remand

A Dhaka court on Tuesday placed Islamic scholar and preacher Mufti Amir Hamza on a five-day remand in a case filed for plotting an attack with a sword on Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Atiqul Islam passed the order after police produced him before the court, seeking 10-day remand in custody.

Earlier on Monday, a team of the police's Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit arrested him from his village home in Sadar upazila of Kushtia district on charge of spreading extremism.

In this regard, CTTC chief Md Asaduzzaman said Amir Hamza is accused of a case under CTTC investigation.

Police claimed he gave confusing and provocative speeches on Islamic aspects in waz-mahfil that is attracting the adolescents.

The CTTC sources, however, said a young man named Shakib was detained on May 5 while allegedly attempting to attack with a sword on the national parliament building.

Following his detention, a case was lodged with Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station in this connection under the Anti-Terrorism Act. 

Besides Shakib, two others - Ali Hasan and Mahmududl Hasan Gunbi - were named in the lawsuit.

The case statement said held Shakib in primary interrogation told police that he became attracted to the extremism watching the speeches of so-called speakers Ali Hasan Usama, Mahmududl Hasan Gunbi, and Amir Hamza that contained the messages of extremist attack. 

JA/SU