Mamunul placed on 7-day fresh remand

A Dhaka court on Monday placed Mamunul Haque, joint secretary-general of the defunct central committee of Hefazat-e-Islam, on a seven-day remand in two separate cases filed over Hefazat violence.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Sadbir Yasir Ahsan Chowdhury passed the order when he was produced before the court seeking a 20-day remand.

Mamunul was produced before the court today after the expiry of seven-day remand in a sabotage case filed with Mohammadpur Police Station.

Police appealed for remand of ten-day each in two cases - 2013 Motijheel mayhem and Hefazat violence at Baitul Mokarram Mosque last month – filed with Motijheel and Paltan police stations respectively.

After the hearing, the court granted four days remand in the case of Paltan Police Station and three days in the case of Motijheel Police Station.

Earlier on 18 April, Mamunul Haque was arrested from Jamia Rahmania Madrasa in Dhaka's Mohammadpur area.

Mamunul is well-known among Islamic hardliners for his hate speech and violent sermons in religious congregations and on social media.

The man acquired a murky reputation earlier this month after he was found with a woman – he said was his second wife – at a resort in Narayanganj's Sonargaon. The authorities later denied his statement.

In November 2020, Mamunul demanded that the government remove the upcoming statue of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, claiming that statues were haram (forbidden) in Islam. He later explained that he did not want to offend Bangabandhu.

In March this year, the Hefazat bigwig and his party colleagues led a series of protests against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Dhaka visit, which sparked violence in parts of Bangladesh.

DMP headquarters said there are 17 cases in Dhaka against Mamunul. Of the cases, 15 were filed by police after the siege of Hefazat in Dhaka's Motijheel Shapla Chattar in 2013.