DHAKA: Bangladesh’s top court on Sunday rejected an appeal by the country’s largest and popular religious party seeking to overturn a 2013 ruling that barred the party from taking part in polls.
The development comes as Bangladesh announced to hold its next national elections in January. A five-member bench of the country’s Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan handed out the verdict. Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami’s (JI) main lawyer did not appear in the SC because of “personal issues” and his plea, filed earlier, seeking to delay the hearing for 6 weeks was also dismissed.
The High Court’s decision ten years ago also canceled JI’s registration with the Election Commission, thus preventing it from taking part in polls or using party symbols. But it did not stop it from political participation.
Bangladesh’s Apex Court Bars Top Religious Political Party from Elections
“The decision of the High Court has been upheld,” Tania Amir, an attorney who stood against the JI, said Sunday. She said, “If Jamaat-e-Islami attempt any rallies, meetings, or identify their political party as legal to any embassy, high commission, or state, foreign agency we are at liberty to bring a new charge of contempt of court against the party,” she added.
However, Matiur Rahman Akanda, a lawyer for JI, stated that it would also continue to be politically active.
Despite Sunday’s verdict by the High Court, it again remained uncertain if Bangladesh JI could continue its political activities. Typically, the Ministry of Home Affairs is the unit that bans groups deemed as anti-state.
JI has been a main partner to the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party led by ex-PM Khaleda Zia, who has been the archrival of the incumbent Prime Minister Hasina, for several decades.
In January, the current PM of Bangladesh will seek to return to government for a fourth consecutive term while Khaleda Zia’s party and Jamaat-e-Islami have threatened to boycott the elections.
Right experts and rights group criticized political victimization in Bangladesh and called on the authorities to avoid using tactics to press opposition, political activists and political parties in the country.
