The Supreme Court today upheld a High Court order that stayed the trial proceedings of a defamation case filed against BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir in 2014.

Chamber judge of the Appellate Division of the SC Justice Hasan Foez Siddique came up with the order on a petition filed by the government seeking stay on the HC order, Advocate Sagir Hossain Leon, a lawyer for Mirza Fakhrul, told The Daily Star.

On September 1, 2014, Nur-e-Alam Siddique, vice-president of Awami Matsyajibi League, filed the case with the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court.

On July 9 this year, a Dhaka court framed charges against Fakhrul in the defamation case.

Following a petition filed by the BNP secretary general, the HC on August 23 this year stayed the trial proceedings of the case and issued a rule asking the government to explain why the proceedings should not be scrapped.