13 present, ex-officials get bail

The High Court (HC) yesterday granted anticipatory bail for four months to 13 present and former government high officials in a sedition case.
The case was filed on the charge of conspiring at a secret meeting at Uttara in Dhaka in 2006 against the then caretaker government and to bring BNP-Jamaat alliance to state power.
An HC bench of Justice Afzal Hossain Ahmed and Justice Muhammad Abdul Hafiz also issued two separate rules upon the government to explain within three weeks why the accused should not be granted regular bail in this case.
The accused who obtained bail are former secretaries Shahidul Alam and Abdul Qaiyum, and incumbent government officials Md Mojibur Rahman, AKM Jahangir, Abdur Rahman Tarafdar, Zakir Hossain Kamal, Md Abdul Bari, Abdus Sabur, Salahuddin Nagri, Abdul Matin, Sajjad Hossain Bhuiyan, Kazi Emdadul Huq, and Sarfuddin Ahmed.
They filed two separate bail petitions with the HC yesterday and appeared before it, seeking bail in the case.
Biman Bandar police filed the sedition case on June 8 this year against detained Mahmudur Rahman, acting editor of the daily Amar Desh, and 15 others including the 13 petitioners, stating that they were holding a secret meeting on November 24, 2006 at Mahmudur's Artisan Ceramics in Uttara.
They were conspiring against the caretaker government ahead of the national election, which was to be held on January 22, 2007, the case stated.
Barrister Rafique-ul Huq and barrister Moudud Ahmed appeared for the petitioners, while Attorney General Mahbubey Alam argued for the state.