Verdict on yaba trader Amin Huda's appeal today

The High Court (HC) will deliver its verdict today on the appeals of businessman Amin Huda, challenging his 79-year jail sentence in connection with the biggest haul of yaba tablets in 2007.

The HC bench of Justice AKM Asaduzzman and Justice SM Mozibur Rahman set the date for passing the verdict after hearing the appeals yesterday.

On October 25, 2007, Rapid Action Battalion seized 1,30,000 yaba tablets and 5,000 yaba alternative drugs from Amin Huda and his partner Ahsanul Haque Hasan at their office in the capital's Gulshan area.

On July 15, 2012, the Speedy Trial Tribunal-4 of Dhaka convicted and sentenced Amin and Hasan to 79 years of rigorous imprisonment in two cases filed with Gulshan Police Station following the seizure of yaba tablets.

This sentence had been given on different charges. Since the punishments will run concurrently, they will have to serve a total of 14 years, the court said.

The same year, Amin Huda filed two separate appeals with the HC challenging the trial court verdict.

During the hearing yesterday, Amin Huda's lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan said his client has been suffering in jail for more than eight and a half years and therefore, he might be exonerated of the charges brought against him.

Opposing the appeals, Additional Attorney General Momtaz Uddin Fakir told the court that he will place arguments before the court when it will deliver the verdict today on the appeals.