Shafik Rehman returns home after six years

The veteran Bangladeshi journalist, political analyst, writer and former editor of the newsweekly-turned-daily ‘Jai Jai Din’ Shafik Rehman returned home from London, United Kingdom yesterday after six years.
Returned with his wife Taleya Rahman, the founding executive director of the election watchdog ‘Democracy Watch’, Rehman was received with warm greetings by journalists leaders and admirers at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport yesterday afternoon.
Also known as a cultural personality who is credited for introducing Valentine’s Day in Bangladesh and hosting the popular art show Lal Golap (Red Rose) on Bangladesh Television (BTV) and later on the private television channel Banglavision, Shafik Rehman left Bangladesh in 2018.
The veteran journalist was arrested on April 16, 2016, and sentenced to seven years in prison for ‘conspiring to kidnap and kill’ Sajeeb Wazed Joy, the former prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s son.
After being arrested in that case, Shafik Rehman had to stay in jail for five months in 2016 but he moved to the UK that same year after being released on bail.
Speaking to the media at the airport after returning to his motherland, Shafik Rehman said that he wants Sheikh Hasina to stay alive and face judiciary actions. “I am against the death penalty. I don’t want loss of life, I want her to stay alive and that will be her ultimate punishment,” Rehman said.
“This is not just a caretaker government but a revolutionary government; but please, no more violence, please love each other. Everyone should get a job and the price of daily commodities should be reduced, law and order must be maintained, and everyone must love each other in this new era,” he said at the airport.