journalist Shafik Rehman. File Photo

DHAKA, April 27, 2025 (BSS) – A court here today set May 27 for pronouncing judgment on an appeal filed by veteran journalist Shafik Rehman against his conviction and seven-year jail sentence in a case for plotting to abduct and murder Sajeeb Wazed Joy in the US in 2015.

Judge Tarik Ejaj of Dhaka 4th Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court set the date as the arguments in the case came to an end today, appellant’s lawyer Syed 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 his arrest warrant. 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-year imprisonment in a case for plotting to abduct and murder Sajeeb Wazed Joy in the US in 2015.

The other convicts in the case are: 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.