Barrister Shakila Farzana, the daughter of former National Parliament whip and BNP leader Syed Wahidul Alam, was arrested in 2015 on charges of financing the so-called militant organization 'Shaheed Hamza Brigade' (SHB). She was in jail for more than 10 months after her arrest in this case. She opened up to The Bangladesh Pratidin about the details of her arrest and sufferings.
Describing the situation before and after the arrest, Barrister Shakila Farzana said, “A team of RAB came to my house under the guise of ‘clients’ on August 18, 2015. They took me from my house saying they had an 'urgent discussion' with me. But after putting me in a car, they blindfolded me with a black cloth. I could not understand where I was taken after that. There are no words to describe how I was treated since then. But I can say this much that none of the things that should have been done to an established barrister, a member of a respectable family and a woman like me. There are no words to describe the way I was labeled a terrorist in an instant.
When I was being interrogated at the RAB-7 office, I was repeatedly threatened with implicating my son and other family members in this case. Then I told the then RAB-7 commander, Lt. Col. Miftah, to do whatever you want me to do. Do not involve anyone from my family. Unable to bear the torture at one point, I told Miftah, "Just shoot me."
Many people have provided legal assistance to the leaders and activists of BNP or Hefazat-e-Islam. But in response to the question of why you were targeted, Farzana said, "The main reason for targeting me is that I provided legal assistance to BNP leaders and activists. I have not accepted any money from them for providing legal assistance to BNP leaders and activists. On the contrary, I bore their expenses. My activities were widely praised at that time. I heard that government agencies used to regularly prepare a list of the cases I fought. In addition, I provided legal assistance to the leaders and activists of Hefazat-e-Islam. For these reasons, I have fallen under the wrath of the government. The legal battle between the leaders and activists of BNP and Hefazat-e-Islam has been the time of my life.”
In response to the question of how the background for your arrest as a 'fund provider' for a militant organization was created, Shakila Farzana said, “I have secured bail in the vast majority of the cases filed in Chattogram against numerous leaders and activists of Chattogram Metropolitan, North and South Districts of BNP since 2009. At that time, the issue of bail was widely accepted among the BNP leaders of Chattogram due to my bail skills. At that time, whenever a case was filed against any leader and activist, they would come to me. In addition, in 2013, many cases were filed against the leaders and activists of Hefazat-e-Islam. They also started coming to me for getting assistance to avail bail. At first, the leaders of Hefazat-e-Islam demanded that they be granted bail within two months. They had to file three hundred to three hundred and fifty petitions in the High Court for their bail. They paid some advance money for legal expenses. But they could not get bail for the accused in many cases within the expected time. After failing to get bail, I returned the money to the commercial bank account 'Sanjida Enterprise'. Basically, I transacted through the bank to prepare documents for returning the money. While giving the money to the bank, I filled in the 'KYC form’ where I mentioned my profession as a lawyer. It was also mentioned in the 'Caesar List' made by RAB. They falsified me as a 'fund provider of militants' by using the documents for returning the money.
The discussed character in this case is Moniruzzaman Don. About him, this leader of Chattogram North District BNP said, “The government filed a case in absentia after BNP's Chattogram rally held on January 5, 2015. Many BNP leaders and activists were accused in this case. One of the accused in that case was Moniruzzaman Don. I was the one who got his bail in that case. I now feel that Moniruzzaman Don’s coming to me for bail was suspicious incident.”
Describing her days in prison, she said, “I was in prison for 10 months and 8 days after being arrested on a 'false' charge. The days in prison were very miserable. These days were like being in hell. After going to the cells, I was humiliated to the maximum. On the first day, I was kept in a women's ward where there were 56 people. Here, I was kept as a drug dealer and a murder accused. On the first day, I stood holding the Iron Gate all night. I could not stay behind because of fear. After three and a half months, I was allowed to see my children. My father had a stroke due to the humiliation incurred to me. At that time, I went into depression. That is why I was also given sleeping pills.
Shakila said: To be frank, I was not only a culture-minded person, but also a Western-minded person. In school, college and university, I used to recite and dance. I used to sing. But for their mean intention, they labeled me a militant. Not only militants, they have labeled them with everything that needed to be labeled. That's how I became a militant. My feelings were dead then. I am a living proof of how a person can be destroyed. They have ended my career. They have ended my family life and destroyed my husband's business. They have done everything they can to ruin me.
She just begs to the creator for delivering justice for the 'injustice' took place on her. She said, “I will not file a case. They are being punished in the hands of nature. They will get more. They know what they did to me, how they made me a militant out of nothing and what they did for their mean self-interests.”
Bd-pratidin English/
