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Sheikh Tasnim Afroz Emi, former general secretary of the Slogan 71 platform, has been released from jail on bail after her arrest and alleged assault over playing Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s Mar 7 speech in Dhaka.
Emi was freed from Kashimpur Central Women’s Prison in Gazipur around 2:45pm on Thursday, said Senior Jail Superintendent Kawalin Nahar.
She said the bail documents were received at the prison earlier in the day and were verified before her release.
On Apr 30, a High Court bench comprising Justice KM Zahid Sarwar and Justice Sheikh Abu Taher granted Emi bail.
Emi was detained on the night of Mar 7 while playing the historic speech outside the Shahbagh Police Station.
The following day, a Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate court sent her and two others to jail after police showed them arrested under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Earlier, two individuals were detained at Chankharpul while playing the same speech, including a Dhaka University physics student and a sound operator.
In protest of those arrests, Emi and others later announced a rickshaw rally with loudspeaker playback of the speech.
Emi had also been a vice-presidential candidate from the “Protirodh Parshad” of left-leaning groups in the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union elections.
The event began around 9:30pm. Around 10pm, a group allegedly arrived and broke their microphone and battery, triggering a scuffle when organisers resisted.
Later, around 10:30pm, leaders of Dhaka University’s student organisation and other groups reached the site.
DU officials linked to student politics then pulled the rickshaw into the Shahbagh Police Station.
During the incident, Emi and her associate Mamun were allegedly assaulted by a group who labelled Mamun as a student activist of a rival group.
Police later took Emi and Mamun into custody and registered a case against three people under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
The case accused them of playing “provocative slogans facing a mosque” and attempting “anti-state conspiracy”, as well as obstructing police duties and trying to snatch a detained student.