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4 years ago

Sangram Editor Abul Asad gets interim bail

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The High Court has granted a one-year interim bail to Sangram Editor Abul Asad in a digital security case started after the newspaper published a report describing a war crimes convict ‘a martyr’, reports bdnews24.com.

Justice Md Emdadul Haque and Justice Md Akram Hossain Chowdhury issued the order on Wednesday.

Lawyers Mahbub Hossain and Mohammad Shishir Monir argued for Asad's bail while Deputy Attorney General Gias Uddin Ahmed represented the state at the hearing.

Asad’s lawyers had appealed for his bail shortly after the court started conducting virtual hearings following the lockdown over coronavirus pandemic on May 11.

Justice Jahangir Hossain Selim later asked the lawyers to present the bail plea to a regular High Court bench on May 13.

“The court has granted a one-year interim bail to Sangram editor and issued a rule on the matter after the plea was presented,” lawyer Shishir Monir told bdnews24.com.

The newspaper published a report on Dec 12 describing Jamaat-e-Islami leader and hanged war criminal Abdul Quader Molla as ‘a martyr’.

Molla, infamously known as 'the butcher of Mirpur', was hanged on Dec 12, 2013 after conviction by the International Crimes Tribunal.

The newspaper, widely recognised as a mouthpiece for Jamaat, commemorated the day with a report carrying the headline: “Today is the sixth death anniversary of martyr Abdul Quader Molla.

The report sparked heated protests as a group of activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student front of the ruling Awami League, burnt copies of the newspaper.

Protesters subsequently besieged and vandalised The Daily Sangram’s office in Dhaka before handing the editor to police.

“We can’t make compromises on independence and sovereignty. We will resist whoever speaks against independence or the Liberation War,” Md Al Mamun, a leader of the pro-liberation platform “Muktijuddho Mancha”, had previously told bdnews24.com.

He had said the Sangram office was used as a temporary facility by the Jamaat and its student front Islami Chhatra Shibir, citing documents found there.

Mamun demanded cancellation of the newspaper’s declaration and threatened to stage more protests if the demand is not met.

The case, started by freedom fighter Mohammad Afzal, also names the newspaper’s Chief Reporter Ruhul Amin Gazi and Deputy Editor Sadat Hossain.

A Dhaka court granted police three days to grill Sangram editor in custody on Dec 15.

He was sent to jail after being produced before the court following a three-day remand on Dec 18.

 

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