The High Court down the 7th Amendment to the Constitution of Bangladesh. This ruling deems unconstitutional the various decrees General Ershad passed through under martial law between March and November 1982. The 7th Amendment retroactively legitimated the very acts that successfully engineering the coup undertaken by then Chief of Army staff H.M. Ershad.
Thus, striking down the 7th amendment now makes those acts unconstitutional. This ruling now brings to the fore the government’s move to try the former dictator and president, H.M. Ershad.
The case was brought to the High Court by one Siddique Ahmed who had been convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison in 1986 by a martial law court. Mr. Ahmed and his lawyers argued that Ershad had subordinated the Constitution to martial law and as such this was unconstitutional, according to the Constitution of Bangladesh.
The ruling will likely be challenged. However, it is also likely that the Supreme Court will reject any challenges and will let the High Court decision stand. Consider that the Supreme Court had struck down a similar challenge that voided the 5th Amendment, thus declaring illegitimate the string of extra-legal maneuvers that led directly to the dictatorial regime of General Ziaur Rahman.
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