SC freezes Hasina bail order

The Appellate Division Thursday stayed until August 14 the "entire order" of the High Court that granted bail to detained former prime minister Sheikh Hasina in an extortion case. The apex court also issued an instruction for an early disposal of the writ petition for the Awami League chief, pending with the High Court. A six-member bench of the Appellate Division, led by chief justice Md Ruhul Amin made the stay order Thursday morning after the government filed an appeal against the High Court verdict. Attorney general Fida M Kamal told bdnews24.com that the order by the Appellate Division means the case against Hasina may go on at the trial court. The nervous legal battle raged over the government's decision to take the extortion case under the cover of emergency powers rules. On July 30, the High Court granted Hasina bail in the Tk 3 crore extortion case and stayed its proceedings under the emergency powers rules. The High Court also gave the government two weeks' time to explain why the extortion case would not be excluded from the jurisdiction of the emergency powers rules. Thursday's stay order came a day after a full-court hearing by the Appellate Division of the government appeal. Updates with more details