Nagorik Oikya Convenor Manna freed on bail on sedition charges

Nagorik Oikya Convenor Mahmudur Rahman Manna has been freed on bail after 21 months in jail in two cases over sedition and inciting the army.

He walked out of Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj at 6:45pm on Sunday, Senior Jail Superintendent Md Jahangir Kabir told bdnews24.com.

During the deadly protests by the BNP-led alliance in the first three months of 2015,  Manna had called for a national dialogue to resolve the crisis. He made headlines for warning of military takeover if the dialogue was not held at the time.

He was arrested on Feb 25 last year after two audio clips of his telephone conversations with BNP leader Sadeque Hossain Khoka and another unidentified man were leaked.

They were heard discussing plans to engineer clashes at Dhaka University and incite the army to destabilise the government.

In the conversation with the unidentified person, Manna, a former student leader, expressed his eagerness to sit with generals for a military intervention.

The former vice president (VP) of the Dhaka University Central Student Union (DUCSU) told Khoka that a few deaths could destabilise the government if a clash over occupying the university dormitories could be engineered.

Police started a case charging Manna for inciting a military takeover and then initiated another case on sedition charges over the leaked audios.

He was denied bail in the trial court, upon which he had moved the High Court that granted him bail in the two cases.

The State moved Supreme Court against the High Court bail orders by seeking permission to appeal against them.

But, on Nov 28, the Supreme Court gave Manna bail in the two cases and he was freed after the order reached the jail, Superintendent Jahangir told bdnews24.com.