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Pro-BNP lawyers of the Supreme Court seek the Chief Justice's intervention in the sudden detention of two Narayanganj lawyers from their chambers without any specific allegation.
The CJ's intervention was sought in a press conference held at the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) building on Wednesday.
Pro-BNP elected members of the Bangladesh Bar Council and senior lawyers hosted the event in protest against the round-up of Khorshed Alam Mollah and Siddiqur Rahman from their chambers in Narayanganj on October 23 by law-enforcers.
In a written statement, advocate Zainul Abedin said, "As the institutional head of the judiciary, we expect the Chief Justice will take effective measures regarding the incident so that the dignity of the legal profession remains upheld."
No citizen of the country should be subjected to such police harassment and torture, he maintained.
"After keeping them in DB custody overnight, they were released on October 24 in the face of protests by lawyers. No complaint or case is pending against them."
According to Mr Abedin, lawyers are feeling panic to run the profession.
"We strongly condemn and protest this incident. At the same time, I am demanding the formulation of a lawyer protection law for the sake of conducting the profession independently."
"There is no good governance in the country… Lawmen have lost their professionalism and are behaving like the ruling party workers…," said Mr Abedin.
The lawyers also sought the release of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami central committee publicity secretary and Bangladesh Lawyers Council general secretary advocate Matiur Rahman Akanda.
The police arrested Mr Akanda from his Uttara residence around 11:30 am on Wednesday.
Bangladesh Bar Council members barristers AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon and Ruhul Quddus Kazal, senior advocates Subrata Chowdhury and Mohsin Rashid, among others, were present at the briefing.
Meanwhile, in a reaction to the briefing, Attorney General Am Amin Uddin said he did not support any detention or arrest of any lawyer without any specific allegation against them.
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