SC stays HC order on Jashore BNP nominee

The Supreme Court yesterday stayed the High Court's order of halting conviction and sentence in a corruption case against BNP Jashore-2 nominee Sabira Sultana for a day.

Justice Hasan Foez Siddique, chamber judge of the Appellate Division, passed the order following two separate petitions filed by the government and the Anti-Corruption Commission seeking stay on the HC order.

The apex court judge also forwarded the petitions to its full bench for hearing on the matter today.

ACC's lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan said Sabira's participation in the polls depended on yesterday's order.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam appeared before the court for the government while advocate AJ Mohammad Ali argued for Sabira.

BNP Vice-Chairman Zainul Abedin, also the lawyer for Sabira, said, "The judiciary does not sit on holidays. We earlier said the judiciary has lost its independence.”

If the independence of judiciary did not exist, democracy and rule of law did not exist, he added.

He claimed that the citizens' constitutional right of participating in the polls had been diminished by the law. He also urged the judges to make judgments without any fear.

On Thursday, the HC stayed the conviction and six-year jail sentence of Sabira.