Imam sent to jail for ‘demeaning Islam’

An imam (religious leader) and two others have been sent to jail today in Lalmonirhat in a case filed over demeaning Islam.

The imam, Hafez Harunur Rashid, 50, of Chouddobari Jame Mosque, said to have accompanied a group of people to remove inscriptions on the mosque’s walls that bore Allah’s and Prophet’s name.

Five, including the imam, were accused in a case filed over the incident by Shahidul Shahidul Islam, a sub-inspector (SI) of Patgram Police Station, on April 27, our local correspondent reports.

The imam, Alhaz  Dulu Miah, 55, president of the mosque managing committee and his son Shafiqul Islam, 38, were arrested in this case yesterday.

The two others, followers of Ahle Hadith (an alternative Islamist belief), Abdur Rahman, 42, and Hanif Ali, 35, were arrested earlier in this connection.

Today, Senior Judicial Magistrate Mehedi Hasan Mondol sent the imam and two others to jail after they were produced before the court a day after arrest, the SI said.

They were on the run since their actions faced stern protests, the SI added.