Dhaka charges opposition leader, party members with murder

DHAKA: Bangladesh's main opposition leader and more than 100 other top party members were charged on Sunday with the murder of a policeman killed in mass demonstrations ahead of the upcoming elections.

Those charged make up the bulk of the opposition leadership — potentially facing the death penalty if found guilty — and could threaten to derail general elections due within three months.

PREPARED TO STRIKE Border Guard Bangladesh personnel stand guard during a nationwide strike called by the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist and Jamaat-e-Islami parties in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023. AFP PHOTO

«At least 164 Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), including Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, were accused of murdering the police officer,» police official Salahuddin Mia said, adding that charges had been filed against them.

Alamgir, 75, the BNP's secretary-general, has led the party since BNP chairman and two-time former premier Khaleda Zia was arrested and jailed, and her son went into exile in the United Kingdom.

The resurgent opposition has been mounting protests against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for months, despite their ailing leader being effectively under house arrest since her release from prison after she was convicted on corruption charges.

Saturday's protests by BNP and the country's largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, were among the biggest this year, with more than 100,000 supporters of the two groups demanding Hasina to step down and allow a free and fair vote under a neutral government.

Dhaka police commissioner Habibur Rahman said earlier that Alamgir had been «detained for interrogation» for Saturday's violence in which a police officer and a protester were killed.

Police said the officer had been hacked to death and accused BNP supporters of the killing.

Protesters and police clashed again on Sunday in multiple locations.

Violence has sparked international concern, with the United States on Saturday calling for «calm and restraint on all sides.»

The European Union on Sunday said it was «vital that a peaceful way forward for participatory and peaceful elections is found» in Bangladesh, the world's eighth-most populous country with a