Staff Reporter :
The leaders of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) on Thursday said that the government had set up a makeshift court in the Old Dhaka Central Jail in order to hold a camera trial to punish BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia “illegally”.
The court has been set up in the old central jail to ensure the illegal activities of the government in the name of trial, they said.
They demanded withdrawal of the gazette notification issued on September 4. The trial of Zia Orphanage Trust case against Khaleda will be held in the administrative building of the old central jail.
The leaders said this at a press conference organized in the Supreme Court Bar Association building. Bar President Advocate Zainul Abedin read a written statement in the conference. Barrister A M Mahbub Uddin Khokan and other leaders were present on the occasion.
Advocate Zainul Abedin said, “According to the Article 35(3) of the Constitution and Section 352 of the code of criminal procedure, a court will be set up in such a place where people can enter easily. The makeshift court set up in old central jail is contradictory to the Constitution and the CrPC.”
“There is a possibility of suffocation if people stay in the court for some time,” Zainul said adding that it is like what is seen in the cinema.
The SCBA President said that there is no legal scope to hold the trial against Khaleda in the “illegal” court.
Khaleda Zia on Wednesday expressed lack of confidence in the Special Court trying the Zia Charitable Trust case against her after she was produced in the old Dhaka central jail.
“There is no justice here. Punish me as much as you want, punish me as long as you want,” Khaleda told the makeshift court inside the jail where she has been serving time in another graft case for around seven months.
Earlier in February, the same court sentenced her to five years’ imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust case.
On Tuesday, the Law Ministry issued a gazette notification, saying the proceedings in the Zia Charitable Trust case would be held at the old central jail on the Nazimuddin Road. The decision, it said, was made taking Khaleda’s security into consideration.
The move triggered a debate, with the BNP claiming, “This was contradictory to the country’s constitution”. This is not an open trial, it said.
The 73-year-old BNP chief landed in jail on February 8, following her conviction and sentence in the Zia Orphanage graft case.
SCBA’s Vice-President Advocate Golam Mostafa and Advocate Golam Rahman Bhuiyan, Advocate Nitay Roy Chowdhury, Advocate Sanaullah Miah, Advocate Gazi Kamrul Islam Sajal, Barrister A K M Ehsanur Rahman, Advocate Ahsanullah and Barrister Mehedy Hasan were also present on the occasion.
The leaders of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) on Thursday said that the government had set up a makeshift court in the Old Dhaka Central Jail in order to hold a camera trial to punish BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia “illegally”.
The court has been set up in the old central jail to ensure the illegal activities of the government in the name of trial, they said.
They demanded withdrawal of the gazette notification issued on September 4. The trial of Zia Orphanage Trust case against Khaleda will be held in the administrative building of the old central jail.
The leaders said this at a press conference organized in the Supreme Court Bar Association building. Bar President Advocate Zainul Abedin read a written statement in the conference. Barrister A M Mahbub Uddin Khokan and other leaders were present on the occasion.
Advocate Zainul Abedin said, “According to the Article 35(3) of the Constitution and Section 352 of the code of criminal procedure, a court will be set up in such a place where people can enter easily. The makeshift court set up in old central jail is contradictory to the Constitution and the CrPC.”
“There is a possibility of suffocation if people stay in the court for some time,” Zainul said adding that it is like what is seen in the cinema.
The SCBA President said that there is no legal scope to hold the trial against Khaleda in the “illegal” court.
Khaleda Zia on Wednesday expressed lack of confidence in the Special Court trying the Zia Charitable Trust case against her after she was produced in the old Dhaka central jail.
“There is no justice here. Punish me as much as you want, punish me as long as you want,” Khaleda told the makeshift court inside the jail where she has been serving time in another graft case for around seven months.
Earlier in February, the same court sentenced her to five years’ imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust case.
On Tuesday, the Law Ministry issued a gazette notification, saying the proceedings in the Zia Charitable Trust case would be held at the old central jail on the Nazimuddin Road. The decision, it said, was made taking Khaleda’s security into consideration.
The move triggered a debate, with the BNP claiming, “This was contradictory to the country’s constitution”. This is not an open trial, it said.
The 73-year-old BNP chief landed in jail on February 8, following her conviction and sentence in the Zia Orphanage graft case.
SCBA’s Vice-President Advocate Golam Mostafa and Advocate Golam Rahman Bhuiyan, Advocate Nitay Roy Chowdhury, Advocate Sanaullah Miah, Advocate Gazi Kamrul Islam Sajal, Barrister A K M Ehsanur Rahman, Advocate Ahsanullah and Barrister Mehedy Hasan were also present on the occasion.
