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High Court quashes extortion case against Hasina

DHAKA: The Bangladesh High Court on Wednesday quashed the extortion case against the former Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, in a ruling that also declared illegal her ongoing trial under the Emergency Powers Rules (EPR).

A High Court bench consisting of Justices Shah Abu Nayeem Mominur Rahman and Shahidul Islam delivered the verdict. The government filed an appeal against the judgment, to be heard by a full bench. Reacting to the verdict, Ms. Hasina’s counsel, Rafiq-ul Haque told reporters, “The law has prevailed.”

Ms. Hasina, also the president of Awami League, was arrested on July 16 last year, and the next day the case was registered under the EPR. On July 24, a chargesheet was filed in the court accusing Ms. Hasina, her London expatriate sister Sheikh Rehana and Sheikh Selim, a former minister and cousin of Ms. Hasina, of being involved in the extortion incident.

Six graft cases were filed against Ms. Hasina after Emergency was declared in January 11 last year. Ms Hasina has termed all the cases as “motivated and conspiratorial” to keep her out of politics.

Earlier, the military-backed government sought time for preparing a counter to the unanimous opinion expressed by a six-member panel of amici curiae appointed by the court that Ms. Hasina could not be tried under the emergency rules, arguing that no person could be tried under those rules for an offence committed before the promulgation of the Emergency Powers Ordinance and the EPR.

The defence argued that the incident that allegedly took place years before the state of emergency was declared could not be brought under the emergency rules.

The case charges Ms. Hasina with extorting Taka 3 crore from a businessman, Azam Jahangir Chowdhury, to let him build a power plant during her 1996-2001 term.

However, Mr. Chowdhury deposed in the special anti-corruption court recently that he had not filed any case against Ms. Hasina but against her cousin and former minister Sheikh Selim.

After the complainant’s deposition, the case lost merit, said Ms Hasina’s Canadian lawyer Payam Akhavan, who visited Bangladesh recently.

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