DHAKA, 23 January 2008 — Three teachers of Dhaka University were released from prison yesterday on a presidential pardon hours after they were convicted by a court of instigating a campus unrest on Aug. 21 that led to widespread violence.
Teachers Sadrul Amin, Anwar Hossain and Harunur Rashid, who were sentenced to serve two years by the court, were set free from the Dhaka Central Jail at about 5:15 p.m. Teachers, students, and relatives in hundreds welcomed them at the jail gate.
President Iajuddin Ahmed pardoned them even though there were no appeals for mercy from their families.
The three professors, two of whom are also deans at Dhaka University, were jailed for breaking emergency rules outlawing protests. The outbreaks prompted a week-long curfew in the country.
Hundreds of students and teachers at the university demonstrated and chanted slogans against the military-backed emergency government immediately after the announcement of the verdict.
“The judge said the three Dhaka University professors broke the emergency laws by joining processions during the unrest and that the charges against them were irrefutably proved,” deputy police commissioner Shahidul Haq Bhuiyan said. He added that the court acquitted another professor and 15 students.
The student protests began at Dhaka University and spread across the country, leaving at least one dead and more than 100 injured. The government accused non-students of hijacking the demonstrations.
