Schoolboy arrested for saying ‘Joy Bangla’ in Facebook video

News report

Police have arrested Fahim (15), a schoolboy from Kulaura Upazila of Moulvibazar, on charges of making various comments in support of Bangabandhu’s daughter, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and the Awami League.

Police arrested him in a raid in the Bhangaripatti area of Kulaura Municipality on Saturday night, August 9.

The accused Fahim is a ninth-grade student at a local school. His father is a shop employee; his mother works as a domestic worker. They live in a rented house in the Bhangaripatti area. Their village is in Beanibazar Upazila of Sylhet.

Recently, a video of Fahim went viral on social media, Facebook. He was arrested on the basis of it. The 47-second video shows Fahim sitting on a chair in a room, with a table in front of him; a banner with a picture of BNP leader Saifur Rahman hanging on the wall behind him.

In the video, Fahim was saying that Sheikh Hasina was the only proud woman of Bangladesh. InshaAllah she will return one day or another. InshaAllah Awami League will return again. Joy Bangla, Joy Bangla. I am Sheikh Hasina’s man. I can proudly say that I am a soldier of Bangabandhu. InshaAllah we will meet again on the streets, thank you.

The video was posted on several local news Facebook pages and spread around the world.

Kulaura Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Md. Omar Faruk confirmed the arrest of schoolboy Fahim.

He said that in a viral video on Facebook, Fahim was seen sitting in front of several banners at the house of a BNP leader named Murad Ahmed in Kulaura and giving a speech against Sheikh Hasina. After the matter came to light, a raid was conducted and he was arrested.

The Kulaura police station evaded questions about the basis of whose complaint this arrest was made and whether proper procedures were followed in the arrest of a minor.