SC suspends lawyer Yunus Ali for 3 months over contempt of court

The Supreme Court has suspended lawyer Yunus Ali Akhand from practising in the top court for the next three months after finding him guilty of contempt of court.

A virtual appellate bench of seven judges led by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain delivered the unanimous verdict on Monday.

“Yunus Ali Akhand has been found guilty of contempt of court. He is being asked to refrain from practising in either division of the Supreme Court for the next three months starting today,” he said.

The court also fined him Tk 25,000 and failure to pay the sum will result in a jail term of 15 days.

On Sep 27, the top court barred Yunus Ali from practising in the High Court and the Appellate Division for two weeks for making “disparaging remarks” about the judiciary on social media after Additional Attorney General Murad Reza, who stepped down on Sunday, brought Ali's Facebook posts to the court's attention.

Reza denounced Ali’s remarks about the judiciary as “a serious contempt of court”.

The court also ordered the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission to block Ali’s Facebook account after removing the malicious posts.

The Appellate Division also ordered him to appear in court to explain the matter. Following that, Yunus Ali appeared in the Appellate Division’s No. 1 courtroom on Sunday.

Yunus Ali apologised for his mistake in writing and verbally.

Earlier in August, lawyer Syed Mamun Mahbub was also barred from practising in any court for making “untoward comments” about the judiciary on social media.

The top court had issued a notice on him for contempt of court but Mahbub was let off after he offered an unconditional apology to the court.

Yunus Ali, who came into the limelight by filing writ petitions over various incidents, ran unsuccessfully as a Jatiya Party candidate for the Dhaka-8 seat in the 2018 general elections.

He recently sparked controversy after he appealed for the release of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia on Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s birth centenary.