Bangladesh arrests political activists

BANGLADESH: Dozens of party activists were arrested Monday in emergency-ruled Bangladesh for allegedly defying a ban on political meetings, police and officials said.

Police said 40 members of the Awami League, one of the country's two main political parties, were arrested in the northern city of Sylhet.

All political gatherings and street demonstrations are illegal under restrictions imposed by its military-backed interim government since an emergency was declared earlier this year.

"They were arrested by army-led security forces for gathering for a meeting in defiance of the emergency," said Sylhet police chief Abdun Nur, adding that they included a number of expatriate Bangladeshis who had accompanied party leader Sheikh Hasina Wajed from London to Bangladesh last week after a ban on her entering the country was lifted.

Awami League general secretary Abdul Jalil, however, told AFP the activists had merely been attending a lunch party.

More than 20,000 party supporters ignored the ban on demonstrations last week to welcome Sheikh Hasina at Dhaka's airport after what the party believes to have been a failed attempt by the caretaker government to force her into exile.

Earlier Monday, a key aide to Sheikh Hasina's rival Khaleda Zia was also arrested, police and family members said, two days after he told journalists she was still under pressure to go into exile.

Dhaka, Tuesday, AFP.