HC defers Fakhrul's bail hearing to 3 January

The High Court today deferred the hearing of a rule it issued asking why BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir should not be granted bail to 3 January.

Though the hearing date was fixed for today, the High Court bench of Justice Md Salim and Justice Shahid Nooruddin deferred the hearing of the rule on Sunday (17 December).

On 7 December, the High Court denied bail to Mirza Fakhrul in the case over the attack on the Chief Justice's residence during 28 October political violence. It also issued a ruling seeking to know why Mirza Fakhrul would not be granted bail.

Prior to that, on 22 November, the lower court denied his bail.

On 29 October morning, police detained Mirza Fakhrul from his Gulshan residence after deadly clashes rocked parts of Dhaka the previous day. Around 10 hours later, police filed at least two cases against him.

Meanwhile, on 13 December, a Dhaka court refused to hear the bail petitions of Fakhrul in 10 cases filed over political violence, stating that it lacked jurisdiction to pass any order since the investigation officers did not formally arrest him in these cases.

The court recommended that the defendant approach the High Court for further consideration.

The BNP has claimed that since 28 October 15 leaders and activists, including a journalist, have been killed and approximately 15,000 leaders and activists have been arrested in the ongoing movement for a caretaker government.

Besides Mirza Fakhrul, several top leaders including BNP Standing Committee member Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, Mirza Abbas, Joint Secretary Moazzem Hossain Alal are in jail.

Some 136 BNP leaders and activists, including Joint Secretary General Habibun Nabi Khan Sohel, Information Affairs Secretary Azizul Bari Helal, Voluntary Affairs Secretary Mir Sarafat Ali, and former Jubo Dal president Saiful Islam Nirob, were recently sentenced in connection with the arson case centred on the 5 January 2015 election.