Plea against Mahmudur's remand rejected

This April 11 photo shows law enforcers taking Mahmudur Rahman, acting editor of Bangla daily Amar Desh, to a court hours into his arrest at the newspaper office in the capital.

The High Court (HC) on Sunday summarily rejected a writ petition which sought cancellation of remand of Mahmudur Rahman, acting editor of Bangla daily Amar Desh.

The HC bench of Justice Naima Haider and Justice Zafar Ahmed passed the order after hearing the plea.

Rahman's wife Firoza Mahmud filed the petition with the HC on April 17 seeking its directive on the government to cancel her husband's remand.

Detectives arrested Mahmudur on April 11 at the daily’s office on charge of publishing a Skype conversation between Justice Md Nizamul Huq, then chairman of International Crimes Tribunal-1, and Ahmed Ziauddin, an expatriate Bangladeshi legal expert.

On April 11, a Dhaka court placed Mahmudur on a 13-day remand in connection with three cases.

The first case was filed on December 13 last year, charging him with sedition by publishing the Skype conversations.

Other two cases were filed on March 17 in connection with hartal and pre-hartal violence and on March 26 for assaulting police and obstructing their work.