Dhaka, Jan 24 (bdnews24.com) — The High Court has ordered the government to explain why the 1976 tribunal that tried and convicted Col. Abu Taher should not be declared illegal.
A High Court bench passed the order on Wednesday upon a petition challenging the legality of the trial by a military court that executed Taher, said Rokonuddin Mahmud, who stood for the petitioner during the hearing.
Jatiya Somajtantrik Dal (JSD) president Hasanul Haque Inu and Rabiul Alam, who were also sentenced by the military tribunal, lodged the petition on Monday.
Inu was sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined Tk 10,000 by the tribunal, or serve another two-year imprisonment if he failed to pay the fine.
Alam was sentenced to five years in jail and fined Tk 2,000 by the tribunal, in default to serve another year in jail.
The bench of justices A K M Shamsuddin Chowdhury and Sheikh Mohammad Zakir Hossain also asked the government to explain why the verdict sentencing Inu and Alam should not be declared illegal.
Seventeen civilians and former military officials, including Taher, were punished in a sedition case in 1976 and 1977 during Gen. Ziaur Rahman's rule.
Taher was executed on July 21, 1976.
Taher's wife Lutfa Taher, his brother Anwar Hossain, incumbent president of Dhaka University Teachers' Association, Fatema Yusuf, wife of Ft. Sgt. Yusuf Ali Khan, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in the same trial, jointly filed a petition on August 23, 2010 challenging the legality of the court martial.
On the same day, the High Court asked the government to produce records of the court martial within three weeks.
The court also directed the government to explain why Martial Law Regulation No.16 of 1976, under which Taher was tried for sedition and executed 34 years ago, should not be declared illegal and unconstitutional.
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