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HC stays BNP aspirant's conviction

Her lawyer argues she can now run for nat'l polls

Staff Correspondent
The High Court yesterday stayed the conviction and sentence of BNP nominee for Jashore-2 Sabira Sultana.
Her lawyer says she can now contest the December 30 election.
The bench of Justice Md Rais Uddin passed the order hearing a petition filed by Sabira seeking stay on her conviction and six-year jail sentence in a corruption case.
Her conviction and sentence would remain suspended until the HC disposes of her appeal against them, her counsel Aminul Islam told The Daily Star.
Aminul argued that his client now cannot be treated as a convicted person following yesterday's order and there was no legal bar for her to participate in the polls.
On Monday, the HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman, however, had observed that there was no provision in the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) for suspending a conviction, unless scrapped by a competent court.
The next day, another HC bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice KM Hafizul Alam also observed that there was no provision in the CrPC for suspending convictions.
The bench also observed that a convicted person sentenced to more than two years in jail cannot contest the election in five years after his or her serving the sentence, even if an appeal against the conviction is pending.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court's Appellate Division of the Supreme Court refrained from interfering with the HC observations.
Contacted, eminent legal expert and former law minister barrister Shafique Ahmed yesterday told this correspondent that the observations
made by the division benches of the HC on the suspension of the conviction were correct.
He also argued if convicts, including BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, move petitions before HC for staying the convictions and jail sentences and if their appeals are pending, they might get redress in line with yesterday's HC order. They might be eligible to contest the election, he said.
Aminul, however, said the order of the HC bench of Justice Rais Uddin was not binding for other HC benches.
He said the HC bench stayed the conviction and sentence of Sabira in line with Section 426(1) of the CrPC.
Section 426 (1) of the CrPC stipulates, "Pending any appeal by a convicted person, the Appellate Court
may, for reasons to be recorded by it in writing, order that the execution of the sentence or order appealed against be suspended and, also, if he is in confinement, that he be released on bail or on his own bond".
The lawyer said, "We produced some precedents of the Indian Supreme Court and Bangladesh Supreme Court before the High Court saying that convictions and sentences of some convicts were suspended."
Aminul said the Special Judge Court-7 of Dhaka on July 12 this year convicted Sabira Sultana and sentenced her to six years' imprisonment in a case filed by the AntiCorruption Commission for amassing illegal wealth and concealing information about it.
Sabira, also former chairman of
Jhikargachha upazila, filed an appeal with the HC on July 30 challenging the verdict.
On August 6, the HC accepted her appeal for hearing and granted her bail in the case, he said, adding that Sabira had recently filed a petition with the court seeking stay on her conviction and sentence.
Aminul declined to comment on the observations made by the two separate division benches of the HC about the stay on the conviction and sentence of his client.
Contacted, ACC lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan told The Daily Star that the commission would move an appeal before the Appellate Division on Sunday challenging the order passed by the HC bench of Justice Rais Uddin.