Bangla court orders treason probe against Daily Star editor

A Bangladeshi court today ordered a treason probe against the editor of a leading newspaper for publishing "false and distorted" corruption stories about Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during the army-backed emergency rule in 2007-2008.
"Metropolitan magistrate Snigdha Rani ordered police to accept the sedition complaint brought against (the Daily Star editor) Mahfuz Anam... She also asked the concerned police station to submit the investigation report by March 28," a court official told PTI.
He said assistant public prosecutor M Mostafizur Rahman Dulal lodged the complaint seeking Anam's trial on treason charges for running "false and distorted" corruption stories against Prime Minister Hasina, fed by the military- intelligence agency, in an effort to "efface" her from politics.

Legal experts, however, said the government consent would be required to launch Anam's trial on sedition charges under the country's law.
During the 2007-08 military-backed interim government, a number of graft cases were filed against politicians including Hasina and her archrival Khaleda Zia of Bangladesh Nationalist party (BNP) while the two leaders were kept in make-shift jails for months to face trial.
But the complaint was lodged days after Anam in a TV talk show said running the reports fed by the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) without verification was a "big blunder" in his career.

Several other major newspapers also carried identical reports supplied by the intelligence agency during the emergency rule but Anam's admission sparked a massive uproar.

Hasina's son Sajeeb Wazed Joy demanded Anam to be tried for treason. Several lawmakers also alleged that Anam conspired to bring an "unconstitutional government" and "destroy democracy throughout their life".
Meanwhile, the newspaper called the charges a spate of "hate campaign" against its editor, while Anam in a signed article earlier this week wrote: "I also want to point out that The Daily Star published 203 editorials, which is one editorial every third day during the whole period of emergency caretaker government, demanding repeatedly the earliest restoration of democracy through "free and fair election".
"This, we think, remains an unmatched commitment to democracy for any newspaper during the period dominated by an army-backed regime," he said.