Supreme Court pauses bail release of Fakhrul and Abbas; hearing on Sunday


FE Team | Published: January 04, 2023 17:26:48 | Updated: January 07, 2023 19:52:31


Supreme Court pauses bail release of Fakhrul and Abbas; hearing on Sunday

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Standing Committee member Mirza Abbas will have to stay in jail until Sunday at the least.

Supreme Court Chamber Justice Jahangir Hossain set the date for the hearing of their bail petitions by the full Appellate Bench on Wednesday, according to bdnews24.com.

The two BNP leaders will not be able to avail themselves of the bail until the full bench has made its decision, the judge said in his order.

Mirza Fakhrul and Abbas were not released as the state appealed the decision for bail, said Additional Attorney General Mohammad Mehedi Hasan Chowdhury. The state appealed the decision on Wednesday morning, seeking to stay the High Court’s decision.

"The court instructed us not to put up any bail bonds before the hearing," said Advocate Zainul Abedin, who represents Mirza Fakhrul and Mirza Abbas.

Asked about the status of the High Court's bail order, he said, "The High Court's decision was not stayed. So, for now, their decision is still in effect"

"We told the chamber court that we will not put up a bail within this time period."

The High Court panel of Justice Md Salim and Justice Riaz Uddin Khan granted the two BNP leaders interim bail for six months on Tuesday after their bail petitions were rejected four times.

On Dec 7, BNP activists clashed with police in front of their party headquarters in Dhaka’s Naya Paltan, according to the case dossier. One man was killed and many others were injured in the violence.

Police then conducted a raid on the BNP offices and arrested several leaders and activists, including Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, Dhaka Metropolitan North Convener Aman Ullah Aman, and the party chief's special aide Shamsur Rahman Shimul Biswas.

Law enforcers reportedly recovered a cache of improvised explosives at the office and later filed a case over the incident.

Around 450 BNP leaders and activists were detained, among whom, Aman Ullah Aman and Abdur Quader Jewel secured bail. Rizvi, Annie and 432 other BNP loyalists were immediately sent to jail, while 14 other suspects ended up behind bars after two days of interrogation in police custody.

Later, Mirza Fakhrul and Abbas were detained by police in the early hours of Dec 9. They were subsequently placed under arrest by police detectives.

The two petitioned several courts for bail, but were rejected four times before the High Court took up the matter.

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