Breaking: Bank Freezes Hizb ut Tahrir Chief Coordinator's Account In Bangladesh

October 26, 2009 11:28 a.m. EST

Dhaka, Bangladesh (AHN) - The Sonali Bank Limited on Monday froze an account of the banned Hizb ut Tahrir Bangladesh's chief coordinator in line with the central bank directive, a bank official told AHN Media.

Mohiuddin Ahmed, chief coordinator of the banned Islamic outfit and associate professor of the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) under the Dhaka University, operates an account with a branch of the state-run commercial bank mainly for withdrawing his monthly salary, the official added.

On Sunday, Dhaka University, the country's largest public university, syndicate decided to send Mohiuddin Ahmed on forced leave indefinitely for his involvement with the banned outfit.

"We've frozen the account in line with the Bangladesh Bank (BB), the country's central bank, instruction," Manager of the Sonali Bank Dhaka University branch Mohammad Salim told AHN in Dhaka, adding that the latest balance of the account stood at $131.94 (BDT 9124).

The central bank of Bangladesh issued an order and asked the chief executives of the country's 48 commercial banks on Sunday to find out the organization's accounts and freeze them.

Hizb ut Tahrir, an Islamic political party founded in Jerusalem in 1953, started its journey in Bangladesh in 2001. A number of countries, mainly in Central Asia and Middle East, have banned its activities due to the outfit's terror links.

On October 22, Bangladesh government banned all activities of Hizb ut Tahrir following the bomb attack on ruling party Awami League lawmaker Fazle Noor Taposh in the capital, Dhaka, on the previous day, stating that the group is a "threat to national security."

With Hizb ut Tahrir, the government has so far banned five Islamic outfits. The four others are - Shahadat-e-Al Hiqma, Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB) and Harkat-Ul Jihad al Islami (HUJI).