The High Court on Monday overturned a lower court鈥檚 three-year jail sentence against Amar Desh publisher and editor Mahmudur Rahman in a case filed over failing to submit his wealth statement to the Anti-Corruption Commission in 2010.
A single-member bench of Justice Shahidul Karim delivered the verdict, acquitting Mahmudur after allowing his appeal challenging the August 13, 2015 ruling that sentenced him to three years in prison and a Tk 1 lakh in fine, with an additional six months鈥� imprisonment in default.
The ACC had filed the case on June 13, 2010, with the Gulshan police station, alleging that Mahmudur failed to submit his wealth report within the stipulated time after receiving a notice on April 19, 2010, when he was in jail.
Mahmudur was first arrested on June 2, 2010, in a case for allegedly obstructing police duties. He was arrested again on April 11, 2013, in a sedition case, following the publication of an online conversation between Justice Md Nizamul Huq, former chairman of the International Crimes Tribunal-1, and Bangladeshi expatriate legal expert Ahmed Ziauddin.
Mahmudur, who faced over 124 cases, secured bail in multiple cases, he left the country and returned on September 27, 2024.
In one case, both Mahmudur and his wife were sentenced to seven years in prison.
He was also sentenced to six months鈥� simple imprisonment in a contempt of court proceeding.
