Some 322 former students of Jahangirnagar University in a statement demanded the release of the university unit convener of the Student Movement Against Discrimination Arif Sohel over the quota reform movement.
They all belong to different professions, including lawyers of the Supreme Court, teachers of public universities and writers and development activists.
The demand was raised through a mass signature campaign initiated online by general students, according to a statement.
Supreme Court lawyer Shihab Uddin Khan, JU anthropology department professor Saeed Ferdous, senior budget analyst at the City of Norfolk at the United States Atia Ferdousi, among others, signed the statement.
鈥楢ctions anti to citizen rights must be stopped immediately and harassing innocent people through law enforcement agencies must bring to an end,鈥� said the statement.
Claiming Arif Sohel was on the JU campus during the reported Setu Bhaban attack on July 18, the former JU students said that they were aggrieved over the arrest based on fabricated stories made by the law enforcing agencies.
鈥楶lacing Arif Sohel on remand is the sign of the incumbent government鈥檚 endless tyranny and torture of the citizens,鈥� they added.
They also demanded an unconditional release of Sabbir Rahman Leon, a final year student of JU urban and regional planning department, who was arrested on July 22 during a block raid of police in the Mirpur area of the capital.
Earlier on July 27, Arif Sohel was picked up from his house in Savar by members of law enforcement agencies.
He was later placed on a six-day remand on July 29 in a case filed over vandalism at Setu Bhaban in Dhaka鈥檚 Banani.