Mahmudur Rahman walks out of jail on bail in Joy murder plot case
Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge Mohammad Ash Shams Zaglul Hossain passed the order after holding a hearing on the matter
Bangla daily Amar Desh's former acting editor Mahmudur Rahman, who recently returned to the country after some six years in exile, has been freed from jail.
The journo walked out of Kashimpur Central Jail in Gazipur today (3 October) after securing bail in a murder case filed over an alleged plot to murder to abduct and murder ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina's son Sajeeb Wazed Joy in the United States in 2015.
Amirul Islam, senior jail superintendent of Kashimpur Jail-2, confirmed the matter to The Business Standard.
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"Mahmudur was freed at 3:30pm after documents of his bail order reached the jail today," said Amirul.
He was received by his relatives, lawyers and well-wishers.
Mahmudur's lawyer Tanvir Ahmed said, "We appealed against the sentence given to Mahmudur Rahman in the false case on Thursday ( 3 October) in the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge Mohammed Ash-Shams Joglul Hossain. The court accepted the appeal. Then we applied for Mahmudur Rahman's bail and the court granted it."
The former Amar Desh acting editor returned to Bangladesh via Turkey from his nearly six-year-long exile in London on 27 September. He surrendered to the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Mahbubul Haque on 29 September in the case and appealed for bail. He was sent to jail.
"Mahmudur Rahman was sent to jail as this court has no jurisdiction to allow him bail, considering the term of his sentence. The court, however, asked jail authorities to provide him with a division facility," defence counsel Syed Joynul Abedin Mesbah told the media that day.
Mahmudur, along with journalist Shafik Rehman and three others were sentenced to seven years in prison on 17 August 2023 in the case by the court of Dhaka Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Asaduzzaman Nur. Both Mahumdur and Shafik were abroad in exile at the time.
The other convicts in the case are Jatiyatabadi Samajik Sangskritik Sangstha (Jasas) vice-president Mohammad Ullah Mamun, his son Rizvi Ahmed Caesar and Mizanur Rahman Bhuiyan, an expat businessman living in the US.
Following the fall of the Awami League-led government on 5 August, both journalists returned home last month.
On 29 September, a Dhaka court suspended the sentences of journalist Shafik Rehman and businessman Mizanur Rahman Bhuiyan in the case for one year. The following day Shafik surrendered to a metropolitan magistrate court in Dhaka and pleaded to recall the court's earlier order issuing the conviction warrant against him. The court granted his plea.
Police on 3 August 2015, filed the case with Paltan police station and on 19 February 2018, filed a charge sheet against the five accused.
A total of 12 witnesses including Joy testified in the case on different hearing dates.
