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Download PDF Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami was released last evening from Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) hospital prison cell on a two-month ad interim bail given by the High Court (HC).
Nizami, an ex-minister, was set free around 6:50pm 24 hours after the HC granted him bail in the Gatco corruption case in which BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia is also an accused.
Arrested on May 18 at his Moghbazar home in connection with the Gatco case, the Jamaat ameer is the second high-profile political figure to be released, after arrest, since the government launched the anti-corruption drive early last year. Earlier, Awami League President Sheikh Hasina was released on parole for two months on medical grounds.
He was admitted to BSMMU on June 29 due to pain in his back.
Coming out of the prison cell, he demanded immediate withdrawal of the state of emergency and the release of former prime minister Khaleda Zia, now detained in a special jail on the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban premises.
Asked whether his party would participate in the upcoming polls, Nizami said the matter would be decided in a party forum soon. “We want parliamentary elections first.”
On his release, the Jamaat leader offered the Maghrib prayers with several hundred Jamaat leaders and activists in front of BSMMU on Dhaka’s main thoroughfare Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue, causing traffic jams on several streets that lasted for hours.
Nizami offered the prayers sitting inside his car.
Jamaat leaders and workers including its Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid and Delwar Hossain Sayeedi thronged the BSMMU in the afternoon to receive Nizami.
They had flowers for Nizami and they chanted slogans welcoming his release.
Nizami, also accused of killing freedom fighters during the Liberation War, went to his party office at Moghbazar and exchanged greetings with party colleagues.
He also held a meeting with senior party leaders last night.
Even though Nizami was granted bail and freed, three other former ministers, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, MK Anwar and M Shamsul Islam, detained with the same charges, were denied bail by the court.
The HC yesterday stayed for two months the Gatco trial proceedings against Khaleda Zia.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the case against Khaleda and 22 others on September 2 last year on charges of corruption in awarding Global Agro Trade (Pvt) Co Ltd (Gatco) the contract for container management at inland container depots in Dhaka and Chittagong causing a loss of over Tk 1,000 crore to the state exchequer.
THREE MURDER CASES
Nizami is accused in three murder cases filed with Paltan, Keraniganj and Pallabi police stations. Of the cases, two were filed in connection with killing freedom fighters and people during the Liberation War with Keraniganj and Pallabi police stations. These two cases are currently under investigation.
On December 17 last year, Mozaffar Ahmad Khan, Dhaka district Muktijoddha unit commander, filed a case against Nizami, Mojahid and seven others in connection with killing his nephew and one of his comrades on November 25, 1971.
Mohammad Amir Hossain Mollah, a wounded freedom fighter, on January 24 this year filed a case against Nizami, Mojahid, five of their party men and three non-Bangladeshis in connection with the massacre of 345 people during the Liberation War.
Nizami is also an accused in the case filed in connection with the murder of an activist of Workers Party during the violent clashes between the political parties in October, 2006.
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