The Supreme Court today exempted lawyer Syed Mamun Mahbub from contempt of court rule it had issued against him for posting a derogatory status about chief justice and the judiciary on Facebook on August 11.

The Appellate Division of the SC exonerated Mahbub considering the unconditional apology he tendered in writing and verbally before it and because he did not appear as a lawyer before any court since August 12 as per its directive.

A full bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain delivered the short judgement by disposing of the contempt of court rule on Mahbub.            

SC lawyer Mahbub on August 20 appeared before the apex court and offered unconditional apology to it for posting the derogatory status.

Today, he also virtually appeared before a full bench of the Appellate Division during delivery of the verdict. 

Mahbub told the apex court that he had unintendedly and mistakenly used a word while posting a status on Facebook; he deleted it and will never do something like this in future.

After hearing the issue, the Appellate Division fixed August 23 (today) on the contempt of court rule. 

Several lawyers including senior counsels M Amir-Ul Islam, Rokanuddin Mahmud, Zainul Abedin, AJ Mohammad Ali and AM Amin Uddin appeared for Syed Mamun Mahbub while Attorney General Mahbubey Alam and Additional Attorney General Murad Reza represented the state during the virtual proceedings.

The Supreme Court today suspended the enrolment of Advocate Md Eunus Ali Akond as a lawyer for the next two weeks for posting derogatory comments about the judiciary on his personal Facebook account recently.

The apex court directed Eunus Ali Akond not to practice law before the Appellate and High Court Divisions of the SC for two weeks.

A four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain also summoned Eunus, directing him to appear before this court at 9:30am on October 11 to explain his conduct.

The apex court came up with the order on a suo moto (voluntary) move after Additional Attorney General Murad Reza placed Eunus' Facebook statuses before the court.

At the same time, the SC today ordered the Bangladesh Telecommunication and Regulatory Commission to immediately remove the derogatory posts given by Eunus Ali Akond from Facebook and to block him from the social site, Murad Reza, also the acting attorney general said.

Earlier on August 12 this year, the SC had issued a contempt of court rule against another lawyer Syed Mamun Mahbub for posting a derogatory status about the chief justice and the judiciary on Facebook on August 11.

The Supreme Court today summoned Advocate Syed Mamun Mahbub to appear before it on August 20 for posting a derogatory status about Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain on Facebook.

The apex court also issued a rule asking Syed Mamun Mahbub, a Supreme Court lawyer, to explain why contempt of court proceedings should not be brought against him for posting the status on his Facebook profile.

A six-member bench of the Appellate Division of the SC, headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, came up with the order and rule after Attorney General Mahbubey Alam raised the issue before the bench during the virtual proceedings today.

Contacted, Syed Mamun Mahbub told The Daily Star that he heard about the SC order on him.

"I have mistakenly used a word about the chief justice in a Facebook status. I have already deleted the status from my Facebook. I will appear before the Supreme Court on August 20 and will offer unconditional apology for my mistake," he said.

Advocate Mamun Mahbub also said he will reply to the rule after receiving the order of the apex court.

The Supreme Court today upheld High Court orders that stayed the trial proceedings against BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir in two cases filed in 2012 and 2013 over vandalism and arson.

The Appellate Division of the SC, however, asked the HC to hold hearings and dispose of the rules issued in connection with the cases.

A six-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain came up with the orders after virtually hearing two separate leave to appeal petitions filed by the state, challenging the HC orders.

Following the two petitions filed by Mirza Fakhrul, the HC on November 7, 2017 stayed the trial proceedings against him in two cases lodged with Sher-E-Bangla Nagar and Ramna Police Stations in 2012 and 2013 respectively.

The HC also issued two rules asking the state to explain why the proceedings of the cases against Mirza Fakhrul should not be scrapped.

Today, Sagir Hossain Leon, a lawyer for Mirza Fakhrul, told The Daily Star that his client is accused in a total of 86 vandalism, arson and defamation cases, which were filed with political motivations.

Mirza Fakhrul is now on bail in all the cases filed against him, he added.

The Supreme Court today commuted the death sentence of three convicts to imprisonment till natural death in the sensational Gopal Krishna Muhuri murder case of Chattogram.

Principal Gopal Krishna Muhuri of Nazirhat College in Chittagong was shot dead at his Jamal Khan Road residence in Chattogram on November 16, 2001.

Today, a three-member bench of the Appellate Division of the SC headed by Justice Muhammad Imman Ali commuted the death sentence of the three convicts after hearing their appeals against the High Court verdict on them in the case. 

The grounds on which the apex court commuted their death sentence could not be known immediately as the full text of the verdict has not been released yet.  

All the three convicts -- Azam, Alamgir Kabir alias Baitta Alamgir, and Taslimuddin Montu --  are now in the condemned cell, Deputy Attorney General Amit Das Gupta told The Daily Star this morning.

The three convicts will be shifted to the normal cell of the jail as they are not death-row convicts, he said.

DAG Amit Das Gupta, however, could not say in which jail the three convicts are serving their punishment.             

Following the death reference and appeals of the convicts, the HC on July 19, 2006 upheld a lower court verdict awarding capital punishment to four convicts, including the three, for killing Gopal Krishna Muhuri. 

Of the four, Nasir alias Gittu Nasir was killed in a crossfire with Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) on March 2, 2005.

The three convicts, who are in jail, filed three separate appeals with the SC challenging the HC verdict on them.

Lawyers Khandker Mahbub Hossain and Helal Uddin Mollah appeared for the convicts.