(Recasts with court order)

By Nizam Ahmed

DHAKA, Feb 8 (Reuters) - A Bangladeshi court on Thursday asked the country's army-backed interim administration to explain why dozens of political leaders including former ministers had been taken into custody, lawyers and court officials said.

Nearly 60 politicians, including nine former ministers, have been detained since Sunday by joint security forces in what the government said was a nationwide crackdown on corruption ahead of general elections.

Lawyers and family members of several detained leaders challenged the arrests in the Bangladesh High Court, appealing for the detainees to be produced in court to decide whether their imprisonment is legal.

"The court has ruled on the interim government to show cause by next two weeks, why the detention will not be declared illegal," a registrar of the Bangladesh High Court said.

The politicians belong to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led by immediate past prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia as well as main rival Awami League, led by another former prime minister, Sheikh Hasina.

"We will take further legal steps after the government submits its statements to the court within the deadline," said Barrister Kaiser Kamal, a lawyer for former forest and environment minister Tariqul Islam who was taken into custody earlier this week.

The government has said that the politicians had been detained under the Special Powers Act under which detainees can be held without being formally charged for upto a month.

The interim administration led by former central bank chief Fakhruddin Ahmed has vowed to punish corruption politicians as part of its campaign to hold free and fair elections in the impoverished nation of 140 million.

Bangladesh declared emergency on Jan. 11 and an election planned for January 22 was postponed after 45 people were killed and hundreds injured in countrywide violence.

No dates have yet been announced for the election.

Earlier on Thursday, the interim government said it had instructed officials to respect the freedom of the press, despite a state of emergency imposed last month after weeks of political violence.

Under the emergency provisions, authorities can exercise tight control over the media, including censoring reports considered harmful to the country's interests.

But a senior Information Ministry official said the administration had told officials across the country that no curbs should be put on the press until further orders.

"The instructions to uphold freedom of press were despatched to all deputy commissioners and police superintendents across the country," he said.

Although many have welcomed the emergency which banned all political and trade union activities, there has been some disquiet among the media and some political parties.

A delegation of newspaper editors met the information adviser to the government, Mainul Husein, urging him to allow the media to function without fear.

"We have no intention to curb freedom of press," Husein told reporters.

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