DHAKA: German Ambassador to Bangladesh Dr Albrecht Conze on Thursday urged the government to release five top BNP leaders.

He came up with the plea while talking to the journalists after a courtesy meeting with the newly appointed foreign minister AHA Mahmud Ali.

He told the journalists: “I urged the minister to do every thing for release of the senior BNP leaders.  Who have been in prison quite some time some of them are my friends.”

Conze added: “I know them very well. They would not be able to do anything of the sort that is been imposed to them by the attorney general.”

He also said: “I think if the both side would make step and bring down the political temperature then at the last moment in the eleventh hour they could find a room for compromise that could make possible for every party to participate election.”

Albert Conze termed the forthcoming arrival of Taranco, Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs of the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, as “very encouraging” and expressed his hope that this would help to mitigate the disparities of the two main political parties of the country.

BDST: 1830 HRS, NOV 28, 2013