A speedy Bangladesh trial court formally recorded charges for extortion on Monday against Tareque Rahman, detained son of former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia. "Speedy trial court judge Abdur Rouf Khan took cognisance of the case as a police officer read out charges of extortion against Tareque Rahman," a court registrar said.
The judge set the next hearing in the case for March 29. Police escorted a pale-looking Tareque, wearing a light-blue T-shirt, into court through a crush of lawyers and visitors, witnesses said.
"He was brought into court amid tight security," one witness told Reuters. Tareque was charged with illegally taking 10 million taka ($145,000) in January from the owner of a construction firm.
"The trial will end in the next 60 days," a law ministry official said on Monday. "The speedy trial courts are mandated to complete trials within the stipulated time (two months)."
Bangladesh's army-backed interim government said, meanwhile, it might allow indoor political activity to resume in three months but would not rush into holding elections. Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon arrived in Dhaka on Monday to assess the country's political situation and see what help the Commonwealth could offer Bangladesh to organise a free and credible election, officials said.
On Monday, he met former army ruler Hossain Mohammad Ershad, who heads the Jatiya Party, and will meet ambassadors of Commonwealth countries in Dhaka later in the evening, officials said.
McKinnon was expected to meet government advisers, other political leaders and Election Commission officials before leaving for India on Wednesday, they said.
All political activity has been banned since authorities imposed a state of emergency and postponed parliamentary elections planned for January 22 in the wake of widespread violence.
"We are planning to lift the ban (on indoor politics)," Mainul Husein, the administration's law and information adviser, told reporters late on Sunday. But he ruled out holding elections until more reforms were in place.
An anti-corruption drive launched alongside the emergency has resulted in more than 160 arrests of senior political figures - including Tareque, whose mother's term as prime minister expired last October. Bangladesh is now being run by a caretaker government headed by former central bank chief Fakhruddin Ahmed.