Sunamganj Court Sends 34 Students to Prison over ‘Terrorism’ Charges

A Sunamganj court has sentenced 34 students to prison after finding them guilty of carrying out terrorist acts while pretending to be Tanguar Haor tourists.

The decision was made on Monday evening by Sunamganj Judicial Magistrate Mohammad Farhan Sadiq after the police turned them over to the court following their detention the day before.

According to Sunamganj Additional Superintendent of Police Abu Saeed, who confirmed the report, 24 of the detained people were Bangladesh University of Engineering (BUET) students.

The arrests were made on Sunday afternoon by the Tahirpur police station, but they decided to wait to announce them until Monday.

The situation came to light on Monday afternnon when a sub-inspector from the Tahirpur Police Station filed a case against the pupils under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

According to a police source, the detained students are connected to the Islami Chhatra Shibir's political movement.

These students, according to the authorities, had assembled in the Howar neighborhood with the intention of having covert meetings and plotting against the government. They claimed to have wanted to disturb the peace of the community and endanger lives.

"Police were tipped off that some students have gathered at Howar to engage in terrorist activities and anti-government plotting. Based on this intelligence, they were detained and interrogated on Sunday, and the subsequent case was filed against them on Monday," said ASP Abu Saeed.

"Police proceeded with legal action, leading to their arrests, after verifying the allegations against them," he told.

The 24 BUET students who were held are Afif Anwar, Bakhtiar Nafis, Md Saikh, Ismail Ibn Azad, Sabbir Ahmed, Tajimur Rafi, Md Saad Adnan, Md. Shamim Al Razi, Md Abdullah Al Mukit, Md Zaim Sarkar, Haicham bin Mahbub, Mahmudur Hasan, Khalid Ammar, Md. Fahadul Islam, Tanvir Arafat, ATM Abrar Muhtadi, Md Faisal Habib, Anwarullah Siddiqui, Ali Ammar Mouaz, Md Rashed Raihan, Saqib Shahriar, Faiz Us Swaib, Abdur Rafi, and Main Uddin.

The remaining ten individuals who were arrested are Abdul Bari, Md Baki Billah, Mahadi Hasan, TM Tanvir Hossain, Ashraf Ali, Md Mahmud Hasan, Md Ehsanul Haque, Rayan Ahmed, Tanimul Islam, and Md. Abdullah Mia.

Local reports claim that around 7 a.m. on Sunday, the 34 students boarded a boat at Tahirpur Upazila's pier and sailed out to visit Tanguar Haor. However, while they were traveling across the Patlai River to reach the Takkerghat tourist area about midday, their boat was stopped by two police speed boats. Ahadul and Muhaddis Miah, the boat's drivers, as well as all 34 pupils were subsequently detained and transferred to the police station.