DHAKA: Chamber Judge court of Supreme Court adjourned the punishment of Gonoshasthaya Kendra founder Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury till July 5.

Besides, the petition, challenging the verdict of International Crimes Tribunal (ICT)-2 that sentenced him to one-hour imprisonment and fined Tk 5,000 for the contempt of court, sent to the Appellate Division.

The court of Chamber Judge Hasan Fayez Siddique passed the order accepting the appeal on Tuesday.

Confirming the matter to banglanews, Zafrullah’s lawyer Barrister Akhter Iman said the hearing will be held in the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice SK Sinha on July 5.

On June 10, the three-member ICT-2, headed by its chairman Justice Obaidul Hasan ordered Zafrullah to stand at the dock for an hour and pay Tk 5,000, in default, will have to serve a further prison sentence for one month.

But, Dr Zafrullah argued and misbehaved with the judges saying ‘You (tribunal judges) misused your power’.

However, he served one-hour imprisonment from 12:49pm-1:49pm but declined to pay Tk 5,000 fine.

Coming out of the tribunal, he told reporters that he would not pay Tk 5,000 fine rather he will file appeal with higher court challenging the verdict.

Earlier on December 2 last year, the court sentenced daily New Age special reports editor David Bergman to imprisonment until the court session ends and fined him Tk 5,000 for two articles he posted on his personal blog, which demeaned the court.

After that, Prothom Alo carried out a report under the heading 'Concern of 50 eminent citizens over Bergman punishment' on December 20, 2014.

On January 14, the tribunal asked the 49 persons to explain by January 27 regarding their statement.

In compliance with the court order, 25 dignitaries apologized in three phases while one of the signatories in the statement, Khushi Kabir, later withdrew her name.

BDST: 1725 HRS, JUNE 16, 2015
BD/RR/SMS