HC drops Hasina's appeal from agenda on lawyers’ request

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A High Court (HC) bench, which was to hear three appeals for quashing corruption charges against Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina, dropped the petitions from its work list Sunday as her lawyers had wanted, reports bdnews24.com.
The decision came after the counsels for the former prime minister apparently expressed their "no-confidence" in the bench that had earlier ruled against an appeal to quash another corruption case against Hasina.
On September 6, the bench of Justice Nazrul Islam Chowdhury and Justice M Ataur Rahman Khan, ruled against the appeal by Hasina's counsels to quash the case involving purchase of Mig-29 warplanes during her term in 1996-2001.
It seemed the lawyers could not keep confidence in the bench for the three other appeals too.
"We want the court to drop the appeals from its list," Hasina's counsel Barrister Shafique Ahmed told the two-judge panel Sunday.
The court granted his appeal.
Later, Ahmed said their move came because they were planning to move the appeals to another bench.
"We'll take time to go to another bench since the hearing of the cases is not taking place right now," he told the news agency.
Separately, Hasina's counsels Sunday moved the Appellate Division to appeal the HC's verdict against the petition for quashing Mig-29 case.