Fakhrul, Abbas walk out of jail

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and standing committee member Mirza Abbas walked out of jail yesterday, a month after they were arrested in a case filed over the clash between party men and police in the capital's Nayapaltan on December 7.

They were released on six month's ad-interim bail.

"We released them around 5:40pm after we received their bail orders," Suvas Kumar Ghosh, senior jail super (acting) of Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj, told The Daily Star.

Speaking at the jail gate, Fakhrul said their struggle for restoration of democracy would be successful through the people's movement.

"A huge number of BNP leaders and activists are still behind bars. The sad thing is that they are living in inhumane conditions. I am demanding their prompt release," he said.

Earlier in the day, defence lawyers submitted bail bonds to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court of Dhaka.

"We sent the bail orders to the jail authorities soon after receiving the bail bonds," Omar Faruk Chowdhury, judicial bench assistant of the court, told The Daily Star.

On January 8, the Supreme Court upheld the January 3 High Court order that granted ad-interim bail to the two opposition leaders in the case.

The Appellate Division of the SC also withdrew the chamber judge's order, which on January 4 asked the counsels for Fakhrul and Abbas not to furnish bail bonds before the lower court concerned until Sunday.

Besides, the apex court asked the HC to dispose of, within 30 days, the rule that on January 3 ordered the state to explain why the two BNP leaders should not be granted regular bail in the case.

The two were earlier denied bail four times by different lower courts.

The case was filed with Paltan Model Police Station on December 8, a day after a clash broke out in front of the BNP's Nayapaltan central office, leaving one dead and many injured.

Fakhrul and Abbas were picked up from their homes in the capital around 3:00am on December 9, a day before the BNP's divisional rally in Dhaka. They were sent to jail after Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Mohammad Jashim rejected their bail petitions.

The two were accused of provoking party activists to attack police.