The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, Dhaka

Outspoken BNP leader Brig (rtd) ASM Hannan Shah, adviser to party chairperson Khaleda Zia, was yesterday arrested again shortly after his release from Narayanganj jail.

Brigadier Hannan was held under the Emergency Power Rules, police said, charging him with breach of the rules after his release.

The fresh case was filed with Fatullah police station. Complainant Bhuiyan Mahbub Hasan, OC of Fatullah thana, alleged in the case statement that Shah's party supporters, after his release, created panic in the area, creating traffic jam, by breaking the emergency rules.

"To maintain law in the area, we arrested him under the section 16(2) of the EPR," he said.

UNB Narayanganj correspondent adds: Hannan Shah later said at the court that he was forced to board a microbus by law-enforcers who, identifying themselves as members of the Special Branch (SB), took him to the court.

The law-enforcers produced Hannan Shah in the court of chief judicial magistrate Golam Mahbub from where he was sent back to jail, rejecting his bail petition.

On January 30, the High Court, upon a habeas-corpus writ petition, declared illegal the detention of Hannan Shah under the Special Powers Act and ordered the government to release him forthwith if not wanted in any other case by the police.

Shah was at first arrested from his new DOHS residence at Mohakhali in the capital On May 14 in an extortion case. He secured release and came out from Kashimpur jail on July 22.

On November 7, he was arrested again on charges of breaking the Emergency Power Rules through his party activity.