Published :
Updated :
For all latest news, follow The Financial Express Google News channel.
A Dhaka tribunal has acquitted Dhaka University teacher Mohiuddin Ahmed, the chief coordinator of the banned outfit Hizb ut-Tahrir, and three others in an around a decade-old case under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Two other absconding accused have been jailed for two years in the case started in April, 2010 for conducting a campaign against the state and storing Molotov cocktails or petrol bombs.
Judge Mujibur Rahman of an anti-terrorism tribunal finally delivered the verdict having deferred it seven times, reports bdnews24.com.
Besides the two-year jail term, Touhidul Alam and Saidur Rahman were fined Tk 5,000 each.
They will have to spend three more months if they do not pay up.
Mohiuddin, a professor at the Institute of Business Administration, was present at the tribunal.
The three others acquitted of the charges are MA Yousuf Khan, Kazi Morshedul Haque, and Tanvir Ahmmed.
The judge ordered police to arrest the two absconding convicts, said the tribunal’s clerk Ataur Rahman.
Mohiuddin has been acquitted despite being the chief coordinator of the banned Islamist group perhaps because one of the two investigators did not testify in court, said state counsel Jahangir Alam Chowdhury.
The state will decide about filing an appeal against the verdict after getting the full version, he added.
Police arrested Hizb ut-Tahrir members Tanvir, Saidur, and Touhidul when they were distributing leaflets and sticking posters with false information outside the Taqwa Mosque at Uttara in the capital on Apr 18, 2010.
Bombs were also found in their possession, according to the charges.
Police accused Mohiuddin of ordering the operators of the organisation to carry out the activities against the state.
Police added two more accused to the case later and charged the six in 2013, but the court forwarded the matter to the home ministry as cases under the Anti-Terrorism Act need the government's clearance.
The court took cognisance of the charges after the ministry cleared the case in 2016.
The government banned Hizb ut-Tahrir on Oct 22, 2009 for running extremist activities against the state.
Over 50 cases have sincevbeen filed against party leaders and activists.