Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) secretary general Mirza Fakhrul has expressed deep concern over the imprisonment of party vice-chairman and freedom fighter Hafiz Uddin Ahmed.

He said the government, which snatched power through a “dummy election” on 7 January, is acting arrogantly. They are spreading fear across the country to prolong their ‘misrule’.

The BNP secretary general said this in a statement on Tuesday evening after a Dhaka court sent Hafiz Uddin to prison denying his bail plea on Monday.

Mirza Fakhrul said in the statement, “Major (retd) Hafiz Uddin Bir Bikram is a valiant freedom fighter. The nation will always remember the brave role he played in the fight against the Pakistani occupation forces during the war of liberation in 1971.”

“He has just returned from abroad after a knee surgery. He still cannot move properly. A valiant freedom fighter has been sentenced in ‘false case’ and yesterday the court sent him to jail denying his bail plea,” he added.

The BNP secretary general further said in the statement that the denial of the bail plea of a freedom fighter proves again that the opposition parties and persons with dissent are being subjected to torture, no matter even if the person is a freedom fighter.

Mirza Fakhrul Islam said the government has turned sending opposition leaders, including the top BNP leaders to jail denying their bail plea, into a regular task. The leaders and activists in the movement to establish democracy are being deprived of justice as there is no rule of law in the country.

He urged for unconditional release of Hafiz Uddin and immediate withdrawal of the “fake” case against him.