Dhaka: Bangladesh’s Supreme Court dismissed an appeal by the country’s largest Islamist party seeking to overturn a 2013 ruling that barred it from participating in elections for violating the constitutional provision of secularism. Bangladesh is set to hold its next national elections on January 7.
A five-member bench headed by the chief justice handed out the ruling. Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami’s main lawyer did not appear before the court due to “personal problems” and his petition, filed previously, seeking to postpone the hearing for six weeks was also rejected.
The high court’s decision 10 years ago cancelled the party’s registration with the election commission, thus stopping it from participating in elections or using party symbols. But it did not ban it from political participation. The ruling, at the time, came amid calls to ban the party for opposing the country’s 1971 independence war against Pakistan. The government of PM Sheikh Hasina, after coming to power in 2009, sought to try Bangladesh Jamaat-e Islami’s leaders for their role in acts of genocide and war crimes during the war. Some have been hanged or given life sentences since 2013. A lawyer for the party said it would continue to be politically active.