Shafik Rehman acquitted in abduction and murder plot case

Veteran media icon and Bengali daily newspaper Jai Jai Din Editor Shafik Rehman has been acquitted in a case over an alleged plot to abduct and murder Sajeeb Wazed Joy, the son of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The decision overturns the seven-year jail term that was handed down to Shafik Rehman earlier on.

Dhaka Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge Tariq Ezaz issued the verdict on Tuesday (27 May 2025), according to Shafik Rehman's lawyer Syed Zainul Abedin Mezbah.

Shafik Rehman was physically present in court for the verdict and it was read out in front of him.

Syed Zainul Abedin Mezbah had previously stated at a court hearing: "This so-called case is over a plot to abduct and kill Hasina's son Joy. The victim did not file the case himself. Police filed it on their own initiative. The defendant is a 90-year-old who was taken into remand. There is no confessional statement in the case."

"Twelve witnesses testified in the case. The day Joy testified, we saw the judge running after him after recording his testimony. That should tell you what type of trial it has been" Syed Zainul Abedin Mezbah presented these points to defend his client Shafik Rehman.

Besides Jai Jai Din Editor Shafik, Amar Desh Editor Mahmudur Rahman and three others were sentenced to seven years in jail. The others are Mohammad Ullah Mamun, vice-president of pro-BNP organization Jatiyatabadi Samajik Sangskritik Sangstha, his son Rizvi Ahmed Caesar and Mizanur Rahman Bhuiyan, a businessman living in the United States of America.

Among them, Mahmudur Rahman has been acquitted.

Calling the case "false" and a form of "harassment", Syed Zainul Abedin Mezbah had applied for Shafik Rehman's acquittal at a hearing on 27 April 2025.

Additional Public Prosecutor Khalilur Rahman said "It was a politically motivated case. Shafik Rehman is a dignified journalist. We have no objection to his acquittal."

Shafik Rehman, a celebrated senior journalist, had spent five months in jail in 2016 after his arrest in the above case. He secured bail and left for the United Kingdom in 2018. He returned home on 18 August 2024, after the July Revolution, having spent six years abroad.

The government had deferred his sentence by one year on the condition that he surrender to the court and appeal the verdict, which he did on 21 November 2024.

Following his surrender, the court accepted his appeal and granted him bail on a BDT 5,000 bond.

Shafik Rehman is immensely popular with youths across Bangladesh. He introduced Valentine's Day in Bangladesh during 1994 for the first time while people in this country had no idea about World Love Day. Shafik Rehman hosted highly applauded television program Lal Golap (Red Rose) for a few years in the past. He is also a renowned author and inspired hundreds of people to choose journalism as careers across Bangladesh.