Govt to appeal against HC stay on Sabira’s conviction

M Humayun Kabir of DOT
The government will move a petition before the Supreme Court (SC) today seeking stay on a High Court order that halted conviction and sentence of BNP nominee for Jashore-2 Sabira Sultana, clearing her way to contest the election.
Attorney General (AG) Mahbubey Alam told The Daily Star that the petition will be moved before the chamber judge of the appellate division today morning.
There is no provision in the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) to stay the conviction of any convict while an appeal against the conviction is pending, he said.
Recently, a bench of the HC observed that the convicts sentenced to more than two years cannot contest the election up to five years after serving their jail sentence, even if an appeal against their convictions of sentences are pending, he said.
The attorney general added that the appellate division of the SC later refrained from interfering with the HC observations.
On Thursday, the HC bench of Justice Md Rais Uddin stayed the conviction and sentence of Sabira after she sought a stay on her conviction and six-year jail sentence in a corruption case.
Following the HC order, she can now contest the election scheduled to be held on December 30, her lawyer said.
On January 9, 2011, the Anti-Corruption Commission filed the graft case against Sabira.