“Rafiqul Islam Miah has been convicted in a cooked up case in which he has no involvement. It’s not a case at all. A notice was sent asking him to submit his wealth statement to an address where he didn’t stay,” said BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.
Speaking at a press conference, he further said, “He (Miah) has been convicted at the behest of the government. An innocent person has been punished only to fulfill the government’s desire. We strongly condemn and protest the conviction he has been given as part of a government plot.”
Rizvi demanded the government release him immediately revoking his conviction.
Earlier, plainclothes police arrested Miah from the city’s Banglamotor area around 6:30pm hours after he had been convicted in a graft case.
Judge Sheikh Golam Mahbub of Dhaka Special Judge Court-6 sentenced the BNP leader to three years’ jail in a graft case filed for amassing illegal wealth.
The court also fined him Tk 50,000 and he will to serve three months more imprisonment in case of failure to pay the fine.
The court issued the arrest warrant for his arrest as he did not appear before it today (Tuesday) while delivering the verdict.