Two recent incidents in conflict-ravaged Bangladesh raises serious questions about its interim government's chief adviser Mohammed Yunus' pitch for restoring rule of law in the country after the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The sudden release of Jashimuddin Rahmani, top leader of the Islamist terror group Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) from jail where he was serving a prison sentence for murdering secular blogger Rajib Haider contrasts sharply to framed charges of murder against the country's cricket hero Shakib Al Hassan despite his absence from the country during the murder he is accused off.
Rahmani's ABT has strong Al Qaeda affiliations. Before his release from jail, he was flown in a helicopter to a district to help him attend his sister's funeral ceremony -- an unusual favour for a known terrorist.
By contrast, Shakib, a former lawmaker of Sheikh Hasina's Awami League, was among 147 people against whom charges in a murder case has been filed by one Rafiqul Islam at Dhaka's Adabor police station.
Islam has also named deposed PM Sheikh Hasina, many former ministers and lawmakers including film star Ferdous and Awami League secretary-general Obaidul Quader as accused in the murder.
On 5 August, Islam's son Rubel was shot during the student protest agitation over job quotas that had plunged Bangladesh into political turmoil. He was wounded in the firing and died in a hospital after two days, the FIR said. Islam's lawyer has also demanded Shakib should be kept out of the Bangladesh team in all formats of the game.
However, Shakib was not in Bangladesh on 5 August, or at any time during the protests, since he was playing for Bangla Tigers Mississauga at the Global T20 Canada league in Brampton from 26 July to 9 August. Before that he was in the USA to take part in Major League Cricket until mid-July.
So if presence at the spot during the crime is an issue when one is accused of murder, Shakib clearly does not fit the bill. Lawyers in Dhaka say it will also be improbable why Shakib would try to have Rubel killed because the two were unknown to each other. They doubt if Rafiqul Islam would himself try to implicate Shakib in the case for his son's murder or whether he has done this at someone's behest.
They say the case against Shakib has possibly been filed only because he was an Awami League MP and that it has hardly any merit. It would be interesting to see how it plays out at the trial stage with the judges. Similar cases of murder have been filed against a TV journalist couple, Farzana Rupa and husband Shakil Ahmed, both working for the pro-Awami TV channel Ekattor TV and scores of others with no prima facie evidence of involvement.
The trend is ominous -- alongwith naming possibly some of those actually involved in violence against protestors, many others like Shakib are only accused because some powerful decision-maker or interest group close to the new dispensation want to settle scores.
Shakib has his share of enemies in Bangladesh cricket who either envy his stardom or his political connections or both. He was not available for comment as he is in Pakistan and may want to consult his lawyers before speaking to media but sources close to the star all-rounder say Shakib was never politically very active but was offered a party ticket for Parliament polls because the Awami League was looking for its share of stars, as many political parties do in the rundown to elections.
Interestingly, the present interim government seems to be following the same template pursued during the Hasina regime -- framing targeted individuals on trumped-up charges that may not necessarily lead to convictions but will be good enough to harass and intimidate the target for a long time.
"These cases may prove counter-productive because the charges will not be easy to prove. This means that the culture of framing opponents on trumped up charges will continue," says top lawyer Sara Hossain, a bitter critic of the Hasina regime.
For interim government's chief adviser Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who has been high on promising Rule of Law, which he says was severely compromised under the long fifteen years of Hasina regime, cases such as the one filed against Bangladesh's all-time great cricketer Shakib Al Hasan would be a litmus test of delivery.
If such cases leads to conviction even when physical involvement and even connivance is difficult to prove, Yunus and his interim government would find itself in the same boat with Hasina, of fuelling vendetta rather than promoting justice.
Hundreds of cases have already been filed against top Awami League leaders including former ministers. By all indication, these will multiply in days to come. A possible ban on the Awami League is also been discussed .
The volume and speed in filing such cases raises questions about their veracity. Ousted PM Hasina already faces more than 100 cases, most of them for murder. Most of her senior ministers have already been implicated in dozens of cases. Former foreign and information minister Ms Dipu Moni, facing a murder case, was severely heckled and allegedly beaten up by pro-Opposition lawyers when produced in court.
The judiciary and the police, at all levels, seems to be under huge pressure. Any opposition to the ongoing witch-hunt against the Awami League elements may be construed as loyalty for the ousted government. The way the chief justice of Supreme Court and his judges had to resign after a two hour ultimatum and gherao by thousands of student protestors has clearly left a message for all.
The Reporters without Borders (RSF) has condemned the "outrageous" charges of crimes against humanity brought against at least 25 journalists in Bangladesh and urged the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus to bring an immediate end to the systematic judicial harassment of journalists in Bangladesh.
In a strongly worded statement, the organisation, whose headquarters are in Paris and which acts for the freedom, pluralism and independence of journalism and defend those who embody these ideals, has sought the immediate release of the arrested reporters, Farzana Rupa and Shakil Ahmed, and dropping of the "unfounded" accusations.
If someone as revered as Nobel laureate Yunus is not able to reverse this trend, Bangladesh is set to degenerate into a vendetta Republic.
