Latif freed on HC bail
Sacked minister Abdul Latif Siddique was freed from jail yesterday days after he had obtained bail in cases filed against him for hurting religious sentiments of the Muslims.
Abdu Bakar Siddique, officer-in-charge of Shahbagh Police Station, told The Daily Star that Latif walked out of the prison cell of the BSMMU around 4:45pm after his bail order reached the law enforcers from Dhaka Central Jail.
He left the hospital in a car, the officer added.
Latif, a lawmaker of Tangail-4 constituency, is now staying in his Gulshan home, sources said.
He would join the ongoing parliament session today, the sources added.
The former minister, who was implicated in 29 cases, secured bail in 17 cases in two phases -- in 10 cases on June 23 and in seven cases on May 26 -- from the High Court. There was no arrest warrant against Latif in the other cases.
Talking to The Daily Star, Latif's lawyer Jyotirmoy Barua said, "The High Court not only granted him bail in those [17] cases, but also stayed the proceedings of the cases."
Latif left jail following all legal procedures, he said.
All the cases were filed with the courts of 18 districts over offending the religious sentiments of Muslims after he delivered a speech at a programme in New York on September 28 last year.
He had reportedly demeaned the hajj pilgrimage, Tablighi Jamaat and prime minister's son Sajeeb Wazed Joy during the programme.
On November 25 last year, a Dhaka court sent the sacked minister to prison after he surrendered before police in a case filed over his derogatory remarks.
Two days before his surrender, Latif returned from India, where he had laid low for a while allegedly to avoid the public outrage over his comments.
He was sacked on October 12 from his position as the telecommunications and information technology minister.
In the face of outrage from several quarters, the ruling Awami League also removed him from the party's presidium, the highest policy-making body.
His primary membership in Awami League was also cancelled.
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