Bangladesh authorities jailed a senior member of football's world governing body on Saturday, hours after she was arrested for allegedly defaming the country's leader.
Mahfuza Akhter Kiron, a FIFA council member since 2017 and national chief of women's football, had told a TV talk show last month that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had neglected football in the cricket-mad country.
A Dhaka court issued an arrest warrant against Mahfuza on Tuesday after a formal libel complaint from local sports administrator Abul Hasan Chowdhury.
Mahfuza was arrested Saturday morning in the capital, Dhaka police officer Omar Faruk said.
A magistrate in the city's metropolitan court denied her bail application in a hearing later that day, according to Mahfuza's lawyer Liakat Hossain said. “We sought bail for her after she was taken to the court. But our prayer was rejected,” he added.
Rights groups have accused the Bangladeshi government of using harsh laws to stifle dissent.
Scores of people have been arrested under strict internet laws and cases have been filed against at least 200 people for making derogatory comments about Hasina online, according to a cyber crime prosecutor.
Mahfuza's arrest came months after Bangladesh arrested and charged award-winning photographer Shahidul Alam with making “false” and “provocative” statements in a televised interview in August.
He was jailed for 107 days — the photographer said he was badly beaten while in custody — and denied bail four times before being freed in November.
The representative for Asian football on the Fifa council elected in 2017 has been heavily criticised after failing to name the current women’s world champions.
Mahfuza Akhter Kiron of Bangladesh overcame the prominent women’s football advocate Moya Dodd in a bid to gain a place on Fifa’s ruling body on Monday.
Kiron beat Dodd by 27 votes to 17 after two other candidates for the woman's slot representing Asia on the Fifa Council withdrew before the ballot.And Kiron's term has begun on a controversial note after she struggled to name the current world champions when interviewed by the BBC’s World Service.
When asked, Kiron answered “Korea” followed by “Japan”, before finally settling on the correct answer: the USA.
"This is very disappointing," said two-time World Cup winner Carli Lloyd after the embarrassing gaffe.Earlier, Kiron had beaten Dodd to the representative position. Dodd had previously been a co-opted member of Fifa's old executive committee and was a leading voice promoting women's soccer within the global body.
“Naturally it is disappointing. I'd hoped I had done enough in the few years I was part of Fifa to persuade people that I should have another shot at it,” Dodd told reporters.
“I think I will always be an advocate for women's football...here are still a lot of ways to contribute. I am still a member of the AFC executive committee and of the board in Australia and I have other involvements,” she added.Australia has only been a part of the AFC since 2006 having previously been in the Oceania confederation and Dodd's loss could be viewed as an indication of the country's political weakness in Asian soccer.
Kiron is a member of the AFC's executive committee and women's football committee.
“This is like a dream come true,” she said. “I've always wanted to do something for Asian women's football. Now I have the platform to do something.”
Dodd, a former Australia national team player, was looking to regain her place in the Fifa leadership after her spell as a co-opted member of the old executive ended with the creation of the new Fifa Council in 2016.
The candidates for the three available Asian positions on the Fifa Council were all elected unopposed with Chinese Football Association general secretary Zhang Jian, South Korea's Chung Mong-gyu and Mariana V Araneta Jr of the Philippines all joining Fifa's ruling body.
