Pro-Awami League faction of the Supreme Court Bar Association yesterday protested the statements of its president and secretary over the government's move to seek review of the SC's 16th amendment verdict.

The amendment had empowered parliament to remove SC judges for incapacity or misconduct.

The statements of SCBA President Zainul Abedin and Secretary AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon over the review petition are politically motivated, unwanted and unexpected, said Md Ozi Ullah, vice-president of SCBA and also a leader of its pro-AL faction.

At a press briefing at the North Hall of the SCBA building, he said the SCBA president and the secretary are holding two vital posts of the BNP and that their statements on the petition are their own, not of the SCBA's.

Ozi Ullah said being aggrieved at the Appellate Division verdict, the government has filed the petition under article 105 of the constitution.  

Filing a review petition is a constitutional right of the government, he said, adding that the review petition was now a sub-judice matter and that nobody had the right to make any statement or express any apprehension about the petition.

Awami League Presidium Member Yusuf Hossain Humayun, Bangladesh Bar Council Vice-Chairman Abdul Baset Majumder, SCBA Assistant Secretary Shafiqul Islam, Executive Member Habibur Rahman and Member Azhar Ullah Bhuiyan, among others, were present at the briefing.         

Protesting the government's move to seek review of the SC verdict, SCBA President Zainul Abedin, also a vice-chairman of the BNP, on Monday said the government wanted to tactfully make a decision through the apex court to keep the judiciary under its full control.

The government has taken a stand against the apex court verdict that scrapped the 16th amendment and filed the review petition against the judgment as it doesn't believe in rule of law and democracy, he said at a press conference at the SCBA building's South Hall.

Speaking at the conference, SCBA Secretary AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon, also a joint secretary of the BNP, criticised the government's move.