The rule came upon a writ petition filed on May 14 by the four accused -- Shahed Ali, Jamir Ali, Joynal Abedin Mumin and Tazul Islam. They claimed that they had been forced to make the confessional statement.

The petitioners are among the 10 accused in the charge-sheet. They had made confessional statements to a magistrate about their involvement in the murder of Kibria, killed in the January 27 grenade attack in Habiganj.

In the petition, eight high government officials including the home secretary, inspector general of police (IGP) and IG (Prisons) have been made respondents.

The petitioners' counsel Barrister Rafiqul Islam Mia yesterday told reporters that the four accused had been put on remand for 45 days and tortured brutally, both physically and mentally, to make the confessional statements.

They were also threatened that if they did not give the statement they would be killed in "crossfire" with Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), Mia said. He alleged the accused were forced to sign on a white paper.

The four had pleaded for retraction of their confessional statements several times in the Habiganj court, but were rejected, Mia said.

Former finance minister and AL lawmaker Kibria and four others were killed in a grenade attack at a public rally in Baidderbazar, Habiganj on January 27. Abdul Majid Khan, a district AL leader, filed two cases in connection with the incident.

The charge-sheets for both the cases accused 10 BNP men including these four.