Veteran journalist Shafik Rehman. File Photo

DHAKA, May 27, 2025 (BSS) - A court here today acquitted veteran journalist Shafik Rehman of the charges in a case lodged for plotting to abduct and murder ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina's son Sajeeb Wazed Joy in the US in 2015.
 
Judge Tarik Ejaj of Dhaka Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court passed the verdict today, Rehman's counsel Joynul Abedin Mesbah told BSS.
 
The Ministry of Home Affairs on September 22, 2024, stayed the sentences of Shafik Rehman and another convict, Mizanur Rahman Bhuiyan, for one year on condition of surrendering before the court and filing appeal against their conviction.
 
The senior journalist surrendered through his lawyer on September 30, last year and pleaded to withdraw the arrest warrant against him. He later filed the petition, pleading for acquittal in the case.
 
Dhaka Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Asaduzzaman Nur on August 17, 2023, convicted and sentenced five people, including journalist Shafik Rehman and daily Amar Desh Editor Mahmudur Rahman, to seven years ' imprisonment in a case for plotting to abduct and murder Sajeeb Wazed Joy in the US in 2015.

The other convicts in the case were: Jatiyatabadi Samajik Sangskritik Sangstha (JASAS) vice-president Mohammad Ullah Mamun, his son Rizvi Ahmed Caesar and Mizanur Rahman Bhuiyan, an expatriate businessman living in the US.
 
The same court on February 10, 2025, acquitted daily Amar Desh editor Mahmudur Rahman of the charges in the same case.