The Appellate Division of Supreme Court has extended the stay on bail for lawyer Shakila Farzana until March 20, in two cases filed over financing militant organisation Shaheed Hamza Brigade.
A five-member Appellate Division bench, headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, passed the order yesterday moved by two government petitions.
Earlier on February 22, High Court granted bail to Shakila Farzana in the two cases. The next day, the government moved to the chamber judge which stayed the bail and placed it for a full bench hearing on February 29.
Shakila was arrested on August 18 last year from outside her chamber along with two other lawyers – Hasanuzzaman Liton and Mahfuz Chowdhury Bapon – from the capital’s Dhanmondi for their alleged link in funding a Chittagong-based militancy unit.
The trio claimed that they had deposited money to an account to return the advance fees they took for a case. They also claimed that they were unaware of the owner of the account.
The account is owned by Moniruzzaman Don, who is a top leader of militant group Shahid Hamza Brigade and is now in jail.
RAB said that the Chittagong-based group was formed in November 2013 by former members of Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, Hefazat-e-Islam and other militant groups.
Shakila is the incumbent joint general secretary of the Supreme Court wing of Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Forum, a pro-BNP lawyers’ body.
She is the daughter of Syed Wahidul Alam, a former BNP whip and lawmaker from Chittagong during the 2001-2006 tenure.
