Shafik Rehman – an eminent writer and journalist who has been in exile in London for the past six years – is set to return to Bangladesh on Sunday.
Confirming the matter on Saturday, BNP media cell member Shairul Kabir Khan said, “A reception ceremony will be organised at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on the occasion of journalist Shafik Rehman's return to Dhaka at 12 noon on Sunday.
“A Shafik Rehman Return Committee has been formed to make the ceremony a success. Sajib Onassis has been made committee convener, while Jahidul Islam Roni has been made member secretary. The coordinator is Rajiv Ahsan Chowdhury Pappu, and the adviser is Hasanur Rahman.”
On August 17 last year, Dhaka Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Asaduzzaman Noor sentenced five people, including journalist Shafik Rehman and daily Amar Desh Acting Editor Mahmudur Rahman, to seven years in prison in the case file over “conspiracy to kidnap and kill” Sheikh Hasina's son Sajeeb Wazed Joy.
At the same time, they were fined Tk 5,000 each, and another month of imprisonment in default. Sajeeb Wazed Joy had testified in the court on 13 November 2022 in the case.
A police officer had filed the case with Paltan police station on August 3, 2015. Shafik Rehman was arrested in this case back on April 16, 2016. Later he was released on bail and had to leave the country.
