Fakhrul, Abbas denied bail again

A Dhaka court yesterday rejected bail petitions of BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and standing committee member Mirza Abbas in a case filed over the December 7 clash between police and the party men in the capital's Nayapaltan area.

The court also rejected the bail petitions of 222 other BNP leaders and activists in the case. They include Abdus Salam, Khairul Kabir Khokon, Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Annie, Fazlul Haque Milon and Selim Reza Habib.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Shafiuddin passed the order after defence counsels submitted separate bail petitions on Sunday, said Fakhrul's lawyer Zaynal Abedin Mesbah.

During today's hearing, defence lawyers told the court that Mirza Fakhrul, Mirza Abbas and others were not involved in the incident. They were implicated in the case as harassment and they should be granted bail, they added.

The prosecution, however, opposed the bail petitions saying activists had carried out subversive activities as directives from high-profile leaders, including Fakhrul, Abbas and several others.

Upon hearing both sides, the magistrate dismissed the defence pleas considering the depth of offences brought against them in the case.

The case was filed with Paltan Model Police Station on December 8, a day after the clash broke out in front of the party's Nayapaltan office.

The clash left one person dead and scores of others injured.

A total of 450 leaders and activists of BNP and its front organisations were arrested in the case on December 7 and produced before a Dhaka court the following day.

Law enforcers picked up Fakhrul and Abbas from their homes around 3:00am on December 9. The same day, Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Mohammad Jashim sent Fakhrul and Abbas to jail in the case, rejecting their bail petitions.

The two BNP leaders were shown arrested on a charge of provoking party members to launch an attack on police in the Nayapaltan area.