Former state minister for home affairs Lutfozzaman Babar walked out of Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj on Thursday after spending 18 years behind bars.
Babar, who was arrested on May 28, 2007 during the military-controlled caretaker government, faced 14 cases during his incarceration.
He was handed death sentences in three cases, two of which were relating to August 21, 2004 grenade attack, and the third one was related to the Chattogram arms haul also in 2004, under the ousted Awami League government.
He has been acquitted of the three cases on his appeals during the incumbent interim government formed on August 8, 2024 after the ouster of Sheikh Hasina-led regime amid a student-led mass uprising.
Dhaka division deputy inspector general of prisons Jahangir Kabir confirmed Babar鈥檚 release at 1:45pm, saying, 鈥榃e freed Babar after his release order in the last case relating to the arms haul reached jail.鈥�
Besides Babar, several other high-profile individuals involved in the two 2004 Chattogram 10-truck arms haul cases were also released.
They include former director general of the National Security Intelligence and Directorate General of Forces Intelligence Rezzaqul Haider Chowdhury, former National Security Intelligence deputy director Liaquat Hossain, former NSI field officer Akbar Hossain Khan, retired wing commander Shahabuddin Ahmad and former managing director of Chittagong Urea Fertiliser Limited Mohsin Uddin Talukder.
Liaquat, Akbar and Shahabuddin were among the 14 death row convicts in the arm haul cases.
Their sentences were commuted to 10 years on their appeals. The jail authorities freed them after deduction of their custody period and remission from total sentences.聽
On January 13, the High Court acquitted Babar and four others who had been serving life sentences in the arm case, clearing the way for their release.
Among the acquitted persons, former industries secretary Md Nurul Amin has been in hiding.
The appeals of four other convicts were abated due to their death. They are former Jamaat-e-Islami chief and industries minister Matiur Rahman Nizami, who was executed for war crimes, retired Brigadier General Md Abdur Rahim, labour supplier Din Mohammad, and trawler owner Haji Md Abdus Sobhan.
United Liberation Front of Asom leader Paresh Barua was sentenced to death in his absence by the lower court in the case related to smuggling the arms from China, and was awarded life sentence in another case related to illegal arms possession. The High Court commuted Paresh鈥檚 death sentence to life and the life-term sentence to 12 years.
The Chattogram Metropolitan Special Tribunal-1 sentenced the 14 individuals to death on January 30, 2014, under the Special Powers Act 1974, for smuggling 10 truckloads of arms and ammunition.
The tribunal also handed life terms to the same individuals in a separate arms case linked to the smuggling operation.
On December 18, 2024, the High Court acquitted Babar and four others in the smuggling case and commuted Paresh Barua鈥檚 death sentence to life imprisonment.
It also reduced the death sentences of six convicts to 10 years鈥� imprisonment.
