Outlawed radical outfit Hizb ut Tahrir pressurizes Bangladesh interim govt to lift ban

Extremist group Hizb ut Tahrir has called on Bangladesh’s interim government to revoke the ban imposed on it by ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s administration in 2009.

The demand comes amid the release of several terrorist leaders and radicals in the country.

Hizb ut Tahrir leader Imtiaz Selim Monday said the government should replicate the model that it applied for lifting the ban on Jamaat-e-Islami. Bangladesh’s interim government, led by Nobel laureate Mohammed Yunus, had last month lifted the ban on Jamaat-e-Islami.


Mahfuz Alam, a student leader with alleged allegiance to Hizb ut Tahrir, was recently appointed as special secretary to Yunus.

Hizb ut Tahrir, which is trying to spread its network in India, is banned in several countries including Central Asia.

Shafiur Rahman Farabi, a leader of the group, was charged in the murder of blogger and secular activist Ananta Bijoy Das in Bangladesh in 2017.

The group also supported the failed coup attempt by some members of the Bangladesh army in December 2011. It has been trying to recruit students from different educational institutes in Bangladesh.