Bangladeshi actor Meher Afroz Shaon arrested on charges of sedition: Report

The police in Dhaka have arrested actor Meher Afroz Shaon on charges of conspiring against the state, local media reported while citing officials on Friday.

“She was taken into custody in Dhanmondi on Thursday night,” Additional Police Commissioner Rezaul Karim Mallik of the Detective Branch told the Dhaka Tribune.

The police said Shaon had been charged with sedition and was being questioned. Reports indicate she had been critical of Bangladesh’s interim government led by Muhammad Yunus.

Her arrest came hours after her family home in Jamalpur was attacked and set on fire. Students and local residents torched the house near Norundi Railway Station in Jamalpur Sadar Upazila around 6 pm, according to local media reports.

The house belonged to her father, Engineer Mohammad Ali, who had sought an Awami League nomination for the last national election. Her mother, Begum Tahura Ali, served two terms in parliament from a reserved women’s seat.

Shaon had also contested for a reserved parliamentary seat as an Awami League candidate in the last election.

The attack followed an incident in Dhaka, where a mob vandalised and set fire to the residence of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh’s founding leader and father of deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, on Wednesday.

The crowd gathered in Dhanmondi 32 with bulldozers, threatening to demolish the house. Instead, they broke the main gate and set the property on fire, The Dhaka Tribune reported.

The attackers described the house as a symbol of authoritarianism and said they wanted to remove traces of Mujibism in the country. Protesters chanted slogans against Sheikh Hasina, who left Bangladesh for India on August 5 last year after protests against her government.

Ahead of an Awami League demonstration planned for Thursday, several party members were arrested. The party had announced plans to block Dhaka and shut down the transport system.

Bangladesh has been in turmoil since Hasina’s government fell on August 5 last year.