Court verdict against Giasuddin premeditated: BNP

Terming premeditated and politically motivated a Chattogram court's verdict sentencing its Vice-chairman Giasuddin Quader Chowdhury to three years' imprisonment, BNP on Thursday said the criticism of the government has now considered as a crime.

"Giasuddin Quader Chowdhury was awarded three years' jail only for political reasons in a false and fabricated case. This verdict is pre-planned and politically motivated one," said BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.  Speaking at a press conference at the party's Nayapaltan central office, he further said, "The verdict has exposed the 'neo Baksal' rule in the country.

The criticism of the government is now regarded as a crime as the spirit of Nazi misrule has now descended on the Awami League government."

On Wednesday, Chattogram Senior Judicial Magistrate Shahidullah Kaisar sentenced Giasuddin Quader Chowdhury, younger brother of executed war criminal Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury, to three years' jail in a case filed over issuing death threat to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and making derogatory comments on her, reports UNB.

On May 29 last year, Giasuddin at a discussion program said the fate of Sheikh Hasina would turn out to be worse than that of her father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who was assassinated in 1975.