Journalist says he was listed as witness in a case against bdnews24.com ‘without his consent’

A local journalist says he was taken aback to see his name as a witness in a defamation suit started against four senior editors of bdnews24.com in a Barishal court.

Rubel Khan, library secretary of Shaheed Abdur Rab Serniabat Barishal Press Club, took to social media to express his surprise and ire.

“I have been named as a witness in a recent case against bdnews24.com, the first online news portal of Bangladesh. But I'm completely unaware of the matter,” he wrote on his Facebook wall.

“I was not informed. As a media worker, it is against (my) ethics to act against another media house. I condemn the incident,” he said, explaining his position.

bdnews24.com has been facing undue pressure to remove old reports based on court cases against former MP HBM Iqbal and his family.

Kazi Nasir Uddin Babul, who identified himself as a “friend” of Iqbal, filed a plea with the Barishal Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court seeking to bring charges against four top editors of bdnews24.com, including Editor-in-Chief Toufique Imrose Khalidi.

The court is set to issue an order determining whether to take the charges into cognizance on Mar 10. Rubel has been named as witness No. 3 in the case.

He told bdnews24.com that he had been working as news editor of the daily Ajker Barta, a newspaper owned by Babul, the petitioner of the case against bdnews24.com.

Rubel said the newspaper’s Managing Editor Mosharraf Hossain took his address and father’s name from him. After a few days, he came to know that he had been listed as a witness in the case, although he knew nothing about it.

But the lawyer for the petitioner, Autikur Rahman Jewel, said all seven witnesses had been asked about their consent before they were named in the case.

“There is nothing to do if a witness denies having agreed to be named since their signature is not required to file a case. Only the plaintiff’s signature suffices. The witness may raise his objection by appearing in court,” he added.

bdnews24.com had published news on court proceedings and orders in cases filed against Iqbal, chairman of Premier Group, and members of his family in the past one and a half decades as had other mainstream media outlets.

bdnews24.com also covered the news of acquittal of Iqbal and his family members of the charges.

Babul in his plea claimed that the reports were published “deliberately” in 2007, 2008, 2010, 2015 and 2017. The reports are “demeaning” Iqbal and his family in Bangladesh and abroad because these are still on the internet despite the fact that they were acquitted in the cases, according to the petitioner.

bdnews24.com received dozens of legal notices seeking removal of the reports, with the first sent by Babul via Jewel by the end of January, threating cases on charges of defamation and under the Digital Security Act.

After receiving the notice, bdnews24.com published a report on Feb 2. In keeping with the ethics and standards of journalism, its correspondent spoke to the lawyer who sent the notice as well as Iqbal.

Jewel said Iqbal may send legal notices to all the media outlets that published the news on the cases. The lawyer was unsure whether legal notices were sent to the others.

Asked about the old reports, former MP Iqbal had said, “Now 12 years have passed after 1/11 case. The High Court and Supreme Court have quashed these cases. Then why are you letting the entire world know about the lower court’s [orders].” The installation of the military-run caretaker government and actions taken by that administration are referred to as 1/11 in Bangladesh.

After the publication of the report, other legal notices began streaming in from the districts. bdnews24.com has received more than three dozens of notices over the matter. The language, statements and demands in the notices, sent under different names, are identical.

They assert that the report is “baseless” even though it is fundamentally based on the first notice sent by them and their statements.

In one of the new notices from Faridpur, in addition to threatening bdnews24.com with legal action for publishing "any false or baseless news after this", the lawyer also warns of “adverse consequences” for the news publisher.

bdnews24.com opened the process to answer the legal notices after receiving those, beginning with a reply to the one sent by Babul through Jewel.

The second notice dated Feb 18 from the Barishal lawyer reached the bdnews24.com office on Feb 24.

It accepted the receipt of the bdnews24.com response to the first notice, but said the recipient of the notice did not delete or remove the reports “wilfully”, which the second notice described as “shameful and unfortunate”.

“Therefore, you will face legal action if you do not withdraw [the reports] from your news portal within three working days and apologise to Dr HBM Iqbal and his family.”

If their demand is not met, the notice warned, action would be taken under the Digital Security Act and for “defamation”.

Babul filed the petition seeking to start a case the same day bdnews24.com received the report.

Editor-in-Chief Khalidi on Feb 17 spoke extensively at a press conference on “bizarre” attempts to muffle journalism by the influential people.

Khalidi said bdnews24.com can correct factual errors, if any, but it will not remove reports bowing down to “undue” pressure.

“The reports are not based on bdnews24.com’s own investigation, but they objectively reflect the court proceedings and orders. It naturally begs the question: what logical reason is there for the news publisher to remove these reports?" he said.

“We’ve been told repeatedly that others have already removed their reports on the issue. Several attempts were made to manipulate us, engaging influential people, including those from the media. Having failed to compel us to remove the reports despite repeated efforts, they have now resorted to a truly bizarre approach.”

BARISHAL JOURNALISTS CONDEMN CASE

The Journalists’ Union of Barishal, or JUB, and Barishal Reporters Unity, or BRU, have condemned and expressed “grave” concern over the attempt to initiate the case against bdnews24.com.

JUB President Pulak Chatterjee and General Secretary Swapan Khandaker in a statement said the case would put free press in jeopardy.

They noted that the plea to file the case was submitted even after the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists, or BFUJ, protested against the pressure on bdnews24.com.

The JUB demanded government action to put an end to efforts against the freedom of media.

BRU President Nazrul Biswas and General Secretary Mithun Biswas in another statement condemned the plea to start the case.

The demanded withdrawal of the petition.