Dhaka – Bangladeshi police Tuesday arrested three leaders of a religious political party on charges of hurting Muslim sentiments, police said.

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami party chief Motiur Rahman Nizami,general secretary Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed and vice president Delwar Hossain Saydee were arrested on a court order, police officer.

Dhaka’s Metropolitan Magistrate Mehedi Hasan Talukder issued the warrant after the defendants failed to comply with summons to appear in court in a lawsuit Tuesday.

Syed Rezaul Haque, a leader of Bangladesh Tarikat Federation, filed the suit on March 21 accusing the party of having compared Nizami to Prophet Muhammad – a serious offence in Islam.

The party is also widely blamed for supporting Pakistani occupiersduring the country’s liberation war of 1971.