SC stayed acquittal of 11 accused

The Supreme Court yesterday stayed until July 14 a portion of the High Court verdict that acquitted 11 accused in Awami League lawmaker Ahsanullah Master killing case.

Chamber Judge of the Appellate Division of the SC Justice Hasan Faoez Siddique passed the order in response to a petition filed by the government seeking a stay on the acquittal of the accused.

The chamber judge also sent the stay petition to the full bench of the Appellate Division for its hearing on July 14. The government filed the petition with the apex court on   June 20.

After the SC passed the order yesterday, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told reporters at his office that the detained accused persons, who were acquitted by the HC in Ahsanullah Master killing case, cannot be released from jail following the SC order.

The HC on June 15 confirmed the death penalty of six persons, including a central Jubo Dal leader, for killing Ahsanullah Master, a decade after a trial court sentenced 22 people to death and six others to life term for the murder committed in 2004.

The HC commuted capital punishment of seven others to life imprisonment, upheld life terms of two and acquitted 11 of the charges against them. It disposed of the appeals of two others as they died during the trial of the much-talked-about political killing.

Gunmen killed Ahsanullah, a freedom fighter, and Omar Faruq Ratan, a student, in a staccato burst of fire on a rally of Swechchhasebak League, a pro-AL body, at Noagaon near the MP's house in Tongi on May 7, 2004.