New Age | Supreme Court suspends lawyer for Facebook post about judge

The Appellate Division on Sunday suspended High Court Division lawyer Muhammad Ashraful Islam from practicing in all courts in the country pending further hearing on August 29.

A court headed by Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan passed a contempt of court verdict against Ashraf for uploading a live video commentary on his Facebook page on April 29 against a Supreme Court judge and a number of senior lawyers.

However, the court asked journalists not to publish the Facebook content due to alleged irregularities on the part of the judge.

The court also asked the chairman of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission to immediately remove Ashraful’s remarks from his Facebook post.

The Appellate Division ordered Ashraful to appear before the full court on August 29 and explain in person why he would not be punished for contempt of court and defaming the judge and the judiciary through his Facebook post.

The Supreme Court passed the order after hearing a petition filed by seven lawyers – Md Jakaria Habib, Md Murad Hossain, Md Saddam Hossain, Golam Kibria Sourav, Jannatul Islam Peya, Naim Sarder and Md Sultan – seeking contempt of court ruling against Ashraful.

Neither Ashraf nor his lawyer were present at the hearing.

Advocate Ahsanul Karim, representing the seven lawyers, argued that Ashraful, a notorious detractor, through his Facebook post, had knowingly and intentionally disrespected, defamed and condemned a sitting judge and the judiciary.

He further added that Ashraful’s Facebook post had led to the spread of communalism, untruths and malicious information about a sitting judge among the people.