Secretary General of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, Dr. Shafiqur Rahman has issued the following statement on 9 August 2019 demanding release of all detained leaders and activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatrashibir ahead of the Eid-ul-Azha.

“The government has kept the top leaders of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami including its Nayeb-e-Ameer Maulana Abdus Subhan, party’s Nayeb-e-Ameer and renowned religious speaker Maulana Delwar Hossain Sayedee and Assistant Secretary General ATM Azharul Islam behind the bar for 9 years in connection with the so-called cases of crimes against humanity.

The law enforcement agencies had also picked up Jamaat’s former Ameer Professor Ghulam Azam’s son and retired Brigadier General of Bangladesh Army, Abdullahil Aman Al Azmi and Jamaat’s former central executive committee member Shaheed Mir Quasem Ali’s son, Barrister Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem in August of 2016. Since then, their families know nothing about their whereabouts. Though, their families have appealed for repeated times seeking their traces, but mysteriously the government is remaining silent in these regards. Resultantly, the families and relatives of these two missing men are passing days amidst extreme worries and anxieties. I am calling upon the government to release them and to let them observe Eid-ul-Azha with their families.

Besides, the government has imprisoned many leaders and activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatrashibir for years. Many of them are reportedly abducted and missing. Their families are also in deep worries. Instead of celebrating the Eid moments with joys, they are surviving with tearful eyes.

Under the circumstances, I am urging the government to release all the abducted and detained leaders and activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatrashibir including Maulana Abdus Subhan, Maulana Delwar Hossain Sayedee and ATM Azharul Islam ahead of the Eid-ul-Azha so that they can celebrate the joyful Eid moments with their families.