Family members of arrested BNP activists and leaders formed a human chain in front of the National Press Club this morning demanding their release.

They gathered in front of the National Press Club at around 11am on Tuesday (28 November).

The sister of Dhaka Metropolitan BNP leader Leon Haque and Rajib Hasan said, "My two brothers have been arrested by the police, one brother was taken by the police for 1 month and then shown arrested. My family members have been arrested, made to disappear and killed by the government."

"A year ago my brother-in-law was shot dead by RAB in Lakshmipur, he was a BNP activist. When we bribed Tk 20 lakh, RAB gave us the dead body - they did not even want to give the body at first. I will say this - if me and my family don't have the right to live, kill us all together, not one by one," she added.

The wife of Dhaka Metropolitan BNP leader Sheikh Moniruzzaman, said, "The police arrested my husband by breaking down the door at two o'clock in the morning. I begged the police not to take away the old sick innocent man - but the police ransacked the house and took him away."

"I want justice for the murder of my husband, my orphaned child," said the wife of another BNP leader who was killed in police custody.

The wife of the senior vice president of Jubo Dal, SM Jahangir Hossain, said, "Where should I go! The police are the plaintiffs in my husband's case, the police filed the case, the police gave witnesses - what kind of justice is this!"

BNP Vice Chairman Shahjahan's wife Rahima Shahjahan Maya said, "My husband has been jailed for two years, he is not guilty, and our family has been destroyed."

Dhaka Metropolitan BNP leader Abdul Hai Bhuiyan said, "My 3 sons and one son's wife have been arrested by the police. Even when relatives go to see those who have been arrested, the police are harassing them."

Meena Akhter, wife of BNP leader Kausar Hussain, who went missing in 2013, said, "My child is 13 years old, he has not seen his father since he was born. When he asks why he can't see his father, my heart breaks."