The Supreme Court yesterday upheld a High Court order that has granted bail to Adilur Rahman Khan, secretary of rights body Odhikar, in a case filed for publishing a "false report" on its website.

Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, chamber judge of the Supreme Court's Appellate Division, rejected a petition filed by the government seeking stay on the HC order.

Advocate M Asaduzzaman, a lawyer for Adilur, told The Daily Star that there was no legal bar to his client's release from jail following the SC order.

He hoped Adilur would be freed from Gazipur's Kashimpur Jail-1 within a day or two, saying that the HC order granting him bail was conveyed to the Dhaka Central Jail authorities yesterday.

The jail authorities will now send the HC order to the Kashimpur jail authorities for releasing Adilur, the lawyer added.

The HC on Tuesday gave bail to Odhikar secretary for six months in the case filed under the Information and Communication Technology Act, 2006, for publishing the "false report" on the crackdown against Hefajat-e Islam men in the capital's Motijheel area on May 5.

The report claimed 61 people had been killed during the crackdown.

Adilur was arrested on August 10 in connection with the case.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam appeared for the government.