Awami League leader, in custody, dies at Dhaka hospital
Dhaka, Sep 29 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA) Bangladesh’s former Industries Minister Nurul Majd Mahmud Humayun, who was in prison, died Monday morning while undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), local media reported.
The death of the former minister, who had been an inmate at Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj, highlights the dire conditions faced by prisoners across Bangladesh.
Citing hospital sources, Bangladesh’s leading Bengali daily Prothom Alo reported that Humayun, also an Awami League leader, was admitted to the medicine department of DMCH on Sunday in a critical health condition.
According to the prison authorities, as his condition worsened, Nurul was transferred to the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU), where he later succumbed to his illness.
Nurul was taken into custody by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) from the Gulshan area in Dhaka after the fall of the Awami League government last year.
Last week, another Awami League leader, Abu Bakkar Siddique Munna, was killed in police custody in Gaibandha district.
Meanwhile, at least 13 leaders and activists of the Awami League, including two former MPs, were arrested by the Detective Branch (DB) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), local media reported.
The DB stated that the arrestees include former Brahmanbaria-5 constituency MP Fayzur Rahman Badal and former women’s reserved seat MP Tamanna Nusrat Bubly.
Confirming the development on Monday, DMP Deputy Commissioner (Media) Talebur Rahman said the arrests were made as part of operations targeting the Awami League’s “banned” political activities.
These latest developments come amid the ongoing crackdown on Awami League leaders, along with the party’s supporters, under the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government.
Recently, the Awami League accused the Yunus regime of using arbitrary arrests as a weapon to suppress dissent and neutralise political opposition in the country.
Analysts reckon the developments as a major political vendetta being pursued by the Yunus regime, as several cases were filed against the former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and her party members on frivolous grounds immediately following her ouster in August 2024.
