Jailed lawmaker Haji Mohammad Salim has filed an appeal challenging the High Court verdict that upheld a lower court judgement sentencing him to 10-year imprisonment in a graft case.
Haji Salim’s lawyer Advocate Mohammad Sayeed Ahmed Raza filed the appeal with the concerned wing of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
The lawyer said that he has filed the appeal on behalf of his client seeking quashing of his 10-year prison sentence handed down by a lower court over graft charges.
He said that an appeal, which also sought bail for Haji Salim, has been moved with the Appellate Division against the HC verdict.
Earlier on Monday, the Dhaka-7 MP got admitted to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) after spending a day in jail.
The BSMMU director (hospital) Brig Gen Nazrul Islam said that Haji Salim was admitted to the hospital around 10:30am. “He has been suffering from heart disease and undergoing treatment under the supervision of Professor Dr Harisul Haque,” he added.
He also said, “It cannot be said exactly how long Haji Salim needs to stay at the hospital for treatment as his doctors will decide the course of his treatment.”
On Sunday, a Dhaka court sent Haji Salim to jail after rejecting his bail plea on corruption charges for which he has been convicted.
In 2007, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) had filed a case against Haji Salim with Lalbagh Police Station for accumulating wealth illegally.
In April 2008, the trial court sentenced him to 13 years of imprisonment and fined him Tk 20 lakh. In January 2021, the appeal hearing against his jail term began and the HC delivered its verdict in March.
The High Court on March 9 in 2021 upheld the trial court’s judgement. The higher court, however, had acquitted him of the charge of concealing information in his wealth statement, for which Selim was sentenced to three-year imprisonment.
The HC had directed him to surrender before the Dhaka Special Judge’s Court-7 within 30 days of receiving the copy of the verdict. But he left the country on 30 April, sparking widespread debate among netizens.