Tarique may be brought back under mutual legal assistance act: Anisul

Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anisul Huq today said though Bangladesh has no extradition treaty with the UK, it can bring back BNP acting chairperson Tarique Rahman from London under the mutual legal assistance act.

"We can also take help of the United Nations (UN) convention against trans-border or transnational crimes in this regard," he told reporters, BSS reported.

The minister was replying to questions from journalists at a press briefing at the secretariat on the National Legal Aid Day scheduled to be observed in the country on April 28.

Replying a question on the present citizenship status of the BNP leader, the law minister, who is also an eminent jurist, said, "Right now he is a political asylum seeker as he denied the Bangladeshi citizenship. That doesn't mean that he won't be able to get back his citizenship in the future."

"He handed over his passport and applied for British political asylum and that means he doesn't want to retain his Bangladeshi citizenship for the time being," Anisul added.

While answering another question on airing speeches of Tarique Rahman in media, the law minister said, "The High Court has issued an order in this regard and as citizens, we must follow the court's order."

Anisul Huq said a total of 2,0 1,125 people have been provided with legal assistance at government's cost through the National Legal Aid Services Organization (NLASO) from 2009 to March 2018.

"We have been able to help collect Taka 8, 35, 09,454 peacefully through mediation and provided legal assistance to 6,915 people through pre-case and post-case dispute resolution from July, 2015, to March, 2018," he said.