1 killed, 100 injured as police clash with religious party supporters in Bangladesh

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) – At least one Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami activist was killed and more than 100 others were injured in clashes with police on Tuesday in various parts of the country during protests after police prevented them from holding funeral prayers in absentia for their late leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee.

One person died after being shot during a protest in the southeastern Chokoria municipality of Cox’s Bazar, local police officer Md Abdul Jabbar confirmed over the phone to Anadolu.

“We still don’t know how he got bullet wounds. We will investigate the incident and take appropriate legal action,” he pledged.

He claimed that more than five police officers were injured in the party supporters’ attack, including himself.

Jamaat-e-Islami leaders asserted that the clashes resulted in injuries to over 70 of their supporters in Chokoria, and 30 in the capital Dhaka and Chattogram.

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami vice-president Delawar Hossain Sayedee, who had been in jail for the last 13 years, died in custody at a hospital in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) on Monday night at the age of 83.

Sayedee, a prominent Islamic scholar and popular speaker in Bangladesh and other Muslim countries, was taken to the hospital on Sunday afternoon after suffering a heart attack.

According to the police, some religiopolitical party supporters staged a procession and attempted to hold a funeral prayer for Sayedee in absentia in Cox’s Bazar without police permission.

While in the southeastern Chattogram district, police arrested 30 supporters of the party when they attempted to hold a similar funeral.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police also foiled a funeral prayer attempt by party supporters at the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque in Dhaka. Several people were detained on the spot by police.

Commissioner Khandaker Golam Faruq said on Tuesday that police would not allow Jamaat-e-Islami activists to hold a funeral prayer for Sayedee in Dhaka.

Earlier on Monday night, party supporters clashed with police while attempting to hold the main funeral in Dhaka. They took control of the BSMMU premises, where the leader had died.

Finally, the funeral was held at the late leader’s hometown in the coastal Pirojpur district, where thousands of party supporters gathered to see his body for the last time.