Daily Star Editor Mahfuz Anam faces two more libel suits seeking Tk 600mn in damages

Two more libel suits have been filed against The Daily Star Editor-Publisher Mahfuz Anam for running DGFI-fed graft stories against Sheikh Hasina during the army-backed 2007-8 caretaker regime.

News Deskbdnews24.com
Published : 11 Feb 2016, 04:53 PM
Updated : 11 Feb 2016, 04:53 PM

Two local leaders of pro-government Bangladesh Chhatra League filed the cases in Gopalganj and Cox’s Bazar on Thursday.
 
Gopalganj District Judicial Magistrate Nusrat Zabeen Nimmi accepted the suit filed by Chhatra
League’s district unit Organising Secretary Shariful Islam Munna, said his lawyer.
 
The magistrate ordered the Sadar Police Station’s OC to investigate the complaint.
 
Cox’s Bazar district Chhatra League President Ishtiaq Ahmed Joy filed the other case with the court of the district’s Senior Judicial Magistrate Arun Paul.
 
Joy’s lawyer said the magistrate asked the Sadar Police Station OC to probe the complaint and take action.
 
Earlier, Anam faced two defamation suits in Khulna and Lakshmipur and a ‘treason’ complaint in Dhaka on the same charge.
 
Anam admitted in a TV talk show on Feb 3 his ‘big mistake’ in running stories fed by DGFI, the intelligence wing of the armed forces.
 
The stories accused Hasina, now prime minister, of taking bribes.
 
In the Gopalganj suit, the complainant has sought Tk 100 million in damages for defamation of Hasina, the symbolic head of Chhatra League.
 
In the Cox’s Bazar case, Tk 500 million has been sought in compensation.
 
Earlier, Prime Minister Hasina’s son and ICT Advisor Sajeeb Ahmed Wazed Joy had sought The Daily
Star editor's arrest and trial on grounds of ‘treason’.
 
Several MPs have also demanded that he be tried and the newspaper shut down for running such unsubstantiated stories.