Bangladesh’s Daily Star editor gets bail in defamation case

Dhaka: The editor of Bangladesh’s leading newspaper, The Daily Star, Mahfuz Anam has secured bail from a court in Rangpur in connection with a defamation case.

Bangladesh’s ruling Awami League’s Rangpur District organising secretary, Motahar Hossain Moula, had filed the defamation case on February 15 seeking Tk 100 crore in compensation for some reports on its party chief Sheikh Hasina in 2007.

The reports were based on information from Task Force Interrogation Cell (TFIC).

Anam’s lawyer had argued that the kind of allegations leveled against him do not have anything defamatory in the complaint.

Senior Judicial Magistrate Md Shafiul Alam taking into account the entire situation granted the bail upon a bond of Tk 1,000 with two guarantors.

The court has fixed next date of hearing on May 26.

The case began, days after Anam at a talk show made a comment about the lapse in his editorial judgement given by the Task Force Interrogation (TFI) cell the year 2007-08 without verifying

reports independently. Bangladesh was then jolted by political crises and was looked by caretaker government (CTG).

Anam has been charged with a total of 79 cases including 17 pleading to bring charges of treason which bore him Tk 1,32,811 crore as compensation for damages.

Local and international journalist denounced the cases leveled against him citing barrage on the freedom of expression.(ANI)