Police arrested 73 leaders and activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and pro-Jamaat student body Islami Chhatra Shibir from Comilla city in the night of 30 August. Mahiuddin Mahmud, officer-in-charge (OC) of Kotwali Police Station, was reported as saying that a team of law enforcers picked up 130 people raiding a community centre in Barapara area around 8:30pm, while they were holding a “secret meeting”. Of them, 73 people had been detained while the rest were released, said the OC, adding that most of the detainees were students and interns of Comilla Medical College Hospital.
One of the detainees has been identified as Mahbubur Rahman, Shibir president of Comilla Medical College unit.
Twenty-two activists of Jamaat-e-Islami’s female student wing, Islami Chhatri Sangstha, who were arrested on 28 August, were sent to jail the next day. Court sources said Muladi police had sent the arrestees to the Barisal Judicial Magistrate Court under section 54 of the penal code for engaging in ‘suspicious activities’. The OC said 36 books and other literature written by Jamaat leaders Ghulam Azam, Matiur Rahman Nizami, and Delawar Hossain Sayedee were recovered.
Following the arrests, local Jamaat leaders issued statements condemning the alleged harassment by police of the followers of the Islamic ideology and accused them of severely violating their human rights. They also demanded the immediate release of the arrestees.