High Court stays 72 cases against Daily Star Editor Mahfuz Anam

The High Court has stayed 72 cases against 'The Daily Star' Editor Mahfuz Anam.

The cases were filed in different courts across Bangladesh over the newspaper running DGFI-fed unverified corruption stories against Sheikh Hasina during the 2007-08 caretaker regime.

On Mar 27, Anam filed a petition with the High Court challenging the legality of the cases.

The bench of justices Syed Muhammad Dastagir Husain and AKM Shahidul Huq stayed the cases on Monday and issued a rule on the matter.

On Apr 3, the English daily’s editor secured a four-week anticipatory bail in 66 defamation cases.

Top Bangladesh politicians, including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and BNP chief Khaleda Zia, were arrested during the 2007-08 emergency regime on corruption charges.

Anam is accused of trying to undermine the democratic system by helping the military-backed caretaker in its attempt to banish Hasina, her archrival Khaleda Zia and other leaders from politics.

A total 83 cases— over defamation and sedition—were filed against him after he admitted in a TV talk-show on Feb 3, that he had run unsubstantiated reports fed by  the military’s spy agency, the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI).

One of those cases, filed in a Sylhet court, was scrapped. Out of the remaining 82, Anam filed a petition challenging the legality of 72 cases.