Two Dhaka courts on Thursday sentenced 29 leaders and activists of BNP to different terms of jail in two separate sabotage cases. Of the two cases, 20 BNP men including its front wing Juba Dal president Sultan Salauddin Tuku and Swechasebak Dal general secretary Md Abdul Kader Bhuiyan Jewel,  were sentenced to three years of jail each. Home Minister says female firefighters will deal with disasters from now on Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Rajesh Chowdhury handed down the judgment in the case filed with Shahjahanpur Police in 2017. The other convicts are- BNP Dhaka South city unit member secretary Rafikul Alam Majnu, Md Bhashani Chaklader, Md Mohsin, Md Hanif Hossain Babu, Md Belal Uddin, Md Tarikul Islam Jikir, Md Baten, Kazi Md Jamal, Imran Khan Emon, Md Sohagh Bhuiyan, A Salam Khan, Arifur Rahman Sujon, Sheikh Shahidullah Tipu, Md Jahangir Hossain, Md Abdullah Jamal Chowdhury, Md Selim, Ahmed and Humayun Kabir Nahid. 48-hr blockade: 4 leaders of BNP’s associate bodies arrested in Sylhet The court sentenced the 20 convicts to a two-year jail under section 148 and 34, while one more year of jail under section 427 and 34. As both sentences will run concurrently, the convicts will have to suffer only two years behind bars. And 44 people were acquitted as they were not found guilty in the case. Meanwhile, Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Shafi Uddin sentenced nine BNP men to a two-year jail each in the case filed at Gulshan Police Station in 2018. They are-Mehedi Bappi, Mainul Hasan alias Mishu, Shariful, Zakir Hossain, Mojibur Rahman, Mamun Chowdhury, Rubel Hossain, Atikur Rahman and Billal Hossain. BNP urges those who field candidates to stay away from Jan-7 polls The judge also imposed a fine of Tk 5,000 on each of them and, in default of which, they will have to serve another two months in jail. The court also acquitted Aminul Islam as he was not found guilty in the case.

Members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested a BNP leader from Dhaka's Motijheel area on Saturday morning in a case filed over sabotage. The arrestee Mizanur Rahman Mizan, 39, convener of Bogura Sadar Swechasebak Dal unit and son of late Afsar Ali of Gokul Paschim Para of the upazila. 6 BCL men suspended for factional clash in Bogura RAB-3 arrested Mizan on Saturday Morning and handed him over to Bogura Sadar Police station on Sunday, Commander of RAB-12 (Superintendent of Police), Mir Monir Hossain, confirmed. He said that during the blockade, a covered van and two trucks were set on fire in Baghopara and Dighalkandi areas of Dhaka-Rangpur highway. BCL factional clash leaves 13 hurt at Bogura Azizul Haque College Four cases were filed with Bogura Sadar police in these incidents where Mizan made one of the accused. Apart from this, there are 19 cases against him in different police stations of Bogura, he added. 2 trucks torched in Rajshahi, Bogura The BNP leader was sent to jail on Sunday afternoon, said the OC Abu Hasan, member secretary of Bogura District Swechasebak Dal, said Mizan has been implicated in a false case. The movement to topple the government cannot be stopped by false cases and arrests, he said.