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The High Court on Wednesday sentenced BNP leader and former lawmaker Habibur Rahman Habib to five months' imprisonment in connection with a contempt of court charge, filed against him for making a derogatory comment about the judge who sentenced BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in two corruption cases.
The HC also fined him Tk 2000.
The HC bench of Justice Abu Taher Md Saifur Rahman and Justice Md Bashir Ullah passed the decision after hearing the contempt charge.
The HC said, “Habibur Rahman has given a wrong message to the countrymen. He has humiliated the judiciary. In this circumstance, the court cannot close its eyes. Burying the court means burying the country.”
In response to a court's question, Mr Habibur Rahman said, “I swear that I have given this statement (remarks for which he was given sentence). I am ready to give my liver, kidney and even my life for my loving political mother Begum Khaleda Zia. I am not afraid of my 100 years’ jail sentence for her.”
Lawyers Fazlur Rahman, AM Mahbub Uddin Khokan, Ruhul Quddus Kazal, Kamrul Islam Sajal, Syed Mamun Mahbub, Jamiul Hoque Faisal and others represented Habibur Rahman during the court proceedings.
Earlier on the day, police of the Sher-E-Bangla Nagar Police Station produced him in the High Court.
On October 15, a High Court bench summoned the BNP leader for making a derogatory comment about the judge who sentenced BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in two corruption cases in a party programme.
Habibur Rahman, also an adviser of the BNP Chairperson, was asked to appear before the court on November 6.
The HC also issued a rule asking Habibur Rahman to explain as to why contempt of court proceedings should not be initiated against him for making the comment about Justice Md Akhtaruzzaman, now an HC judge, who sentenced Khaleda Zia in the Zia Orphanage Trust and Zia Charitable Trust cases when he was a lower court judge.
The HC bench issued the order and rule on a Suo Motu (on its own motion) move after Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan sent the matter to this bench.
Md Akhtaruzzaman was the judge of the Special Court-5 in Dhaka before.
He sentenced former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia to five years’ rigorous imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). He also gave seven years’ jail to Khaleda Zia in Zia Charitable Trust case filed by the ACC on October 29 same year.
On November 8, the High Court directed the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to find out the BNP leader and to produce him before the court, as he did not appear despite a summon order being issued against him. Complying with the HC order, police on November 21 arrested Habibur Rahman from Mirpur DOHS area in the city.