Arrest warrants against 9 after fatwa to divorce husband, marry another

A judicial magistrate issued the warrants after the police submitted an investigation report.

A court in Bangladesh's Panchagarh has issued arrest warrants for nine people allegedly involved in issuing a fatwa for 'halala' marriage that led to a middle-aged couple being isolated for four months in their village. Aynal Haque, 52, and his wife Jamiran, 42, were targeted by an radical Islamist leader's 'fatwa' (religious edict) calling on Jamiran to marry another man, get divorce from him, and then remarry Aynal. As the couple ignored the diktat, the Islamist leader asked everyone in the neighbourhood in Salimnagar village to isolate the couple as a punishment. Police probed the incident and submitted the report accusing nine people - M. Shahjahan, Mufti Md Anwar Hossain, M. Nasir Uddin, M. Amir Chan, M. Shaheed, M. Sorman Ali, M. Julhaque, M. Mastafa, and M. Rasel.