The High Court has granted bail to former textiles and jute minister Abdul Latif Siddiqui in a case filed under the Anti-Terrorism Act with Shahbagh Police Station in Dhaka.
Journalist Manjurul Alam Panna has also been granted bail in the same case.
A bench of Justice ASM Abdul Mobin and Justice Md Saghir Hossain passed the order on Thursday after hearing separate bail petitions filed by the two accused.
Advocate ZI Khan Panna appeared for Latif Siddiqui, while Assistant Attorneys General Ibrahim Khalil and Al Amin Hossain represented the state.
Following the order, Advocate Panna told reporters that there were now no legal barriers to Siddiqui’s release from jail. However, Assistant Attorney General Ibrahim Khalil said the state would appeal to the Appellate Division challenging the bail order.
Earlier, on 29 August, a Dhaka court sent Abdul Latif Siddiqui, Manjurul Alam Panna, Dhaka University law professor Sheikh Hafizur Rahman Karzon, and 13 others to jail in the same case.
According to the case filed by Sub-Inspector Md Amirul Islam of Shahbagh Police Station, Latif Siddiqui attended a roundtable discussion organised under the banner of “Mancha 71” at the Dhaka Reporters Unity auditorium on 28 August.
The complaint alleged that during the event, Siddiqui delivered an “instigative speech” calling for the overthrow of the current interim government through armed struggle and urged others to join the movement.
Police later detained 16 individuals from among the 70 to 80 participants present at the event. Investigators also claimed that “Mancha 71”, formed on 5 August, was allegedly being used to plan anti-state activities under the guise of preserving the history of the Liberation War.
