28 cases against The Daily Star editor in 6 days
Staff Reporter
Nine more defamation cases were filed against the Daily Star Editor Mahfuz Anam yesterday in Rajshahi, Rangpur, Luxipur, Tangail, Thakurgaon, Panchagarh and Dinajpur, while a courts in Dinajpur issued a summon against him to appear before it on June 14. The cases alleged that the accused caused defamation of Awami League President and now Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina through publishing derogatory, baseless news provided by certain intelligence agency with ulterior motive during the 1/11 regime of 2007 in his newspaper. Additional chief judicial Magistrate Ehsanul Huq of Dinajpur issued the summon following a defamation suit and for suppressing facts, filed by Advocate Shamsur Rahman Parvez, an Awami League of Khansama Upzila yesterday. A court in CoxsBazar also asked the Daily Star editor to appear before it issuing a summon.
With these defamation cases, including a petition for a sedition case, the number of cases filed against the newspaper editor stands 28 with the money for defamation suits running to Taka over 10 thousand crore, news reports said yesterday. These cases were filed by Awami League and its allied organisation leaders and supporters, and lawyers against Mahfuz Anam following his admission that it was mistake on his part to publish news without checking their veracity in a TV chat show on February 4.
