The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, which consists of the Appellate Division and the High Court Division, has held that no court in the country has a jurisdiction to entertain bail petitions on crimes registered under the Emergency Powers Rules 2007. The judgement was delivered by the Appellate Division overruling a previous judgement of the High Court Division of the same court.
The controversial judgement of the Appellate Division is perhaps the first ever judgement by a Supreme Court of any country to abdicate its own power of review into a matter relating to arrest and detention. The Supreme Court Bar Association has protested against this judgement and is boycotting ceremonial events of the Courts. This judgement amongst others indicates the alarmingly increasing bend of the subordination of the courts to the executive in Bangladesh.
The High Court case where the court sought the opinion of six leading lawyers as Amicus Curiae (Friends of the Court) before delivering their verdict can be found here: http://www.alrc.net/doc/mainfile.php/clbang/501/
