BNP leader Mirza Abbas walks out on bail in cases over Oct 28 violence

The BNP’s movement to ‘restore democracy’ will continue, he tells supporters who gather to greet him

Senior BNP leader Mirza Abbas has been released from jail after securing bail in the last remaining case against him over violence during the party’s rally on Oct 28, 2023.

The member of the BNP’s policymaking Standing Committee walked out of Dhaka Central Jail on Monday evening after the bail order in the case with Dhaka Railway Police reached the prison.

Hundreds of activists gathered there to greet Abbas, shouting slogans in support of the BNP’s antigovernment protests.

“Our movement to restore democracy will continue,” Abbas said while briefly addressing his supporters.

He also demanded proper treatment of the jailed BNP leaders and workers, who he said fell sick due to a lack of access to healthcare services.

Earlier in the day, Dhaka Judicial Magistrate Julhash Uddin issued the bail order on a Tk 10,000 bond in the 11th case against Abbas over the violence centring the rally, said Public Prosecutor Anwarul Kabir Babul.

Mohiuddin Chowdhury, a lawyer for Abbas, then said there was no bar to his release from prison because he had secured bail in all the cases.

Police arrested Abbas at Shahidbagh in the capital on Oct 31 last year, four days after the violence centring the rally had broken out.

"He was sent to jail on Nov 1 in one of the cases and was shown arrested in another. We couldn't proceed with his bail plea as the state did not show him arrested in the other nine cases. So, we applied for him to be shown arrested in those cases," said his lawyer Mohiuddin.

He was taken to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrates Court of Dhaka from jail and shown arrested in four cases at Ramna Model Police Station on Feb 1.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Standing Committee member Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury were also freed on bail last Thursday.