Barrister Mainul Hosein’s bail in 14 defamation lawsuits has been upheld in the apex court.

Chamber Judge Md Nuruzzaman passed “no order” on the government’s appeal against his bail and upheld a previous High Court order of freezing the trial of defamation cases against him.

Advocate Masud Rana, a lawyer for BNP leader Mainul Husein, told The Daily Star that the Supreme Court’s “no order” means that the High Court order will remain in force.

He said, now there is no legal bar for Mainul to get released from the jail as there is no arrest warrant for him in the few other cases in which Mainul was made accused.

Earlier on January 13, the HC granted ad-interim bail to Mainul and stayed the trial proceedings of the 14 cases against him for six months for “defaming” journalist Masuda Bhatti.

Mainul was arrested on October 22 lost year in connection with a defamation case for defaming Bhatti on a television talk-show on October 16. He was sued in as many as 23 cases.