The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has upheld a High Court order that granted bail to former jute and textile minister Abdul Latif Siddique in a case filed under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
With this bail order, there is no legal bar for his release, his lawyers said.
A three-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury on Monday (10 November) passed the order after dismissing a petition filed by the state seeking stay on the HC’s bail order.
Barrister Sara Hossain represented Siddiqui in court, while Attorney General Md Asaduzzaman and Additional Attorney General Anik R Haque argued on behalf of the state.
Earlier on Thursday (6 November), the bail was approved by a High Court bench of Justice ASM Abdul Mobin and Justice Sagir Hossain.
Siddiqui, 87, along with journalist Manjurul Alam Panna, 49, Dhaka University law professor Sheikh Hafizur Rahman Karzon, 55, and 13 others, were sent to jail on 29 August over allegations of conspiring to push the country toward armed struggle. A Dhaka court had earlier denied bail to Siddiqui and Panna on 4 September.
Case documents show that the accused had launched a platform called “Manch 71” on 5 August last year, reportedly to counter attempts to distort the history of Bangladesh’s Liberation War. As part of its activities, the group organised a roundtable at Dhaka Reporters Unity on 28 August titled “Our Great Liberation War and the Constitution of Bangladesh.”
During the programme, a group allegedly stormed the venue, chanted slogans, tore banners, harassed participants, and confined Siddiqui, Professor Karzon, and others. Police intervened and detained 16 people. The case was subsequently filed under the Anti-Terrorism Act by Shahbagh Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Amirul Islam.
FP/MI
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