Sangram editor walks out on bail

Editor of Bangla daily the Sangram, Abul Asad, got released from jail yesterday following the bail order from the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.

Asad's lawyer Mohammad Shishir Manir told The Daily Star that his client walked out of Kashimpur jail last evening and they have talked to each other over phone.

He said Asad was arrested on December 13, 2019 in a case filed under the Digital Security Act on charges of "circulating provocative report and sedition".

The High Court on September 23 this year granted bail to Asad following a bail petition filed by him in connection with the case.

The state later moved a petition before the Appellate Division challenging the HC bail order. On November 5, the Appellate Division dismissed the state's petition and upheld the order, Manir added.

Police detained Asad on December 13 last year after a mob vandalised the daily Sangram's office over publishing a report that termed Quader Molla a "martyr".

Molla, former assistant secretary general of Jamaat and known infamously as "the butcher of Mirpur" during the Liberation War, was hanged in 2013 after being convicted in a case for committing crimes against humanity during the war by the Supreme Court on September 17 that year.

Afzal Hossain, a freedom fighter, filed the case with Hatirjheel Police Station.

Asad was sent to Kashimpur jail on December 14 of 2019.