The High Court has stayed for two months, a case filed against Supreme Court lawyer Imtiaz Mahmood under the ICT Act.
The bench of Justice Obaidul Hasan and Justice AKM Zahirul Haque stayed the case with a ruling yesterday after hearing a petition which was filed seeking an order to repeal the case proceedings.
Barrister Tanjib-Ul Alam, accompanied by Md Mustafizur Rahman Khan, stood for the petition, while Deputy Attorney General Md Sarwar Hossain represented the state.
According to Imtiaz Mahmood, the Bangladesh Cyber Crime Tribunal framed the charge against him in a case filed under Section 57 of the ICT Act. Later a petition was filed with the High Court seeking a repeal order on the case proceedings. The court issued a ruling asking the concerned authorities why the case proceedings should not be void within two weeks.
A former left-leaning student leader, Imtiaz has been enrolled in the Bangladesh Bar Council as a lawyer since 1998, and became a member of the Supreme Court Bar Association in 2013. He also writes on several issues, especially the state of ethnic minorities.
He was sent to jail on May 15, 2019, hours after being arrested for a case lodged in 2017 over Facebook posts.
After police arrested Imtiaz from his Banani residence, Khagrachhari police station Officer-in-Charge Shahadat Hossain Tito said Khagrachhari resident Md Shofikul Islam filed the case against Imtiaz on July 21, 2017.
Shofikul accused Imtiaz of spreading rumours, hurting religious sentiments, and affecting the law and order situation negatively with several Facebook posts criticizing Bangali residents and law enforcement in hilly areas.
The same day, Imtiaz's counsel Md Robiul Islam said his client had been granted bail by the High Court on July 25, 2017, and a Khagrachhari court issued an arrest warrant against him on January 21, 2019.
On May 16, 2019, the Bangladesh Cyber Crime Tribunal granted Imtiaz bail against a Tk500 bond from him.