Bangladesh spy agencies cleared ex-president’s Bangkok flight, memo shows

Bangladesh’s National Security Intelligence (NSI) and military spy agency Directorate-General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) issued clearances that enabled former president Md Abdul Hamid to fly to Bangkok for medical treatment early on Wednesday, according to a government document seen by Netra News.

An NSI assistant director and a DGFI wing commander signed off on Hamid, 81, his son Riad Ahmed and his brother-in-law A.N.M. Naushad Khan after the trio reached Dhaka’s Shahjalal International Airport at about 1:30 am local time, the description of the event documented by the immigration police shows.

Immigration shift chief “Alpha-11” — a code name for a senior police officer — alerted the two agencies and, acting on instructions relayed from Special Branch and his superiors, completed the departure formalities, allowing Hamid to board Thai Airways flight TG 340.

Police spokesman Enamul Haque Sagar said an airport additional superintendent was removed for “negligence of duty”, while an SB officer and the lead investigator in a criminal case against Hamid in Kishoreganj were suspended. The superintendent of police for Kishoreganj was also withdrawn, and a three-member inquiry headed by an additional inspector-general has been opened.

No action has been announced against the NSI and DGFI officers who cleared Hamid.

Political backlash

News of Hamid’s exit sparked protests by student groups that spearheaded last year’s July-August uprising which toppled the Awami League government.

Local reports said interior adviser Mohammad Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, confronted by demonstrators in Dinajpur, vowed to bring everyone involved in Hamid’s departure “under justice” and said he would resign if he failed.

Political group Gana Adhikar Parishad gave the interim administration 48 hours to bring the ex-president back. Late on Thursday, activists from the National Citizens’ Party rallied outside acting Prime Minister Muhammad Yunus’s residence, demanding the former ruling party be banned.

Nahid Islam, a prominent organiser of last year’s protests and convener of the National Citizens’ Party, wrote on Facebook: “The illegal fascist government’s president has been allowed to flee before our eyes. Our trust in the authorities’ pledge to deliver justice is now in doubt.”

Hamid, who began his political career in 1959, served five terms as a lawmaker, twice presided over parliament as speaker and held the presidency from 2013 to 2023 before retiring from frontline politics.

He was charged last August, after Sheikh Hasina’s fall from power, over an alleged offence in Kishoreganj but—like several other elder Awami League figures—was not arrested.

The confidential memo says there was “no adverse comment” in the immigration database when Hamid checked in on Wednesday.

Netra News could not reach Hamid or his relatives for comment.●

(Editorial Note: The second paragraph was edited to clarify the nature of the document. The document was a general diary that the immigration police prepares to document events leading to such high-profile clearance. While the nature of the document is confidential, it wasn’t a secret document, as had earlier been suggested. We regret the error.)