The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court (SC) upheld a High Court order that granted bail to BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Standing Committee Member Mirza Abbas in a sabotage case filed against them.
A four-member appellate division bench led by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique passed the order dismissing the appeal of the government on Sunday.
Earlier on January 3, the High Court granted bail to the two top BNP leaders for six months. Subsequently, the government applied for suspension of the bail order.
The following day, the chamber judge of the Supreme Court refused to stay a High Court order that granted them bail in a case over Nayapaltan clashes, and ordered that the counsels for the BNP leaders should not provide bail bonds for them before the lower court until January 8.
On December 7 last year, BNP activists clashed with police in Dhaka’s Nayapaltan, leaving one dead and scores injured. After the incident, cops raided the Nayapaltan BNP office, arrested more than 300 leaders and workers and filed around half a dozen cases against the opposition leaders and activists.
Fakhrul and Abbas were arrested on December 8 night in two separate drives to their residences.
The bail plea of Fakhrul and Abbas was turned down three times by the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) court of Dhaka. Subsequently, the counsel for the BNP leaders applied for the bail with the High Court on January 2.
The High Court granted bail for six months after hearing that appeal. At the same time, the court also issued a four-week rule seeking as to why the BNP leaders will not be granted a permanent bail.
