A Sylhet court has summoned The Daily Star Editor Mahfuz Anam in two defamation cases filed against him for running "false corruption stories" against Sheikh Hasina based on information provided by the DGFI during the 2007-2008 military-backed caretaker government.
Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) Sylhet city unit president Abdul Basit Rumman and former president of the unit Rahat Tarafder filed the Tk100 crore defamation case each with Sylhet Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court of Saifuzzaman Hiro on Sunday.
Quoting Humayun Kabir Babul, advocate of Abdul Basit Rumman, additional public prosecutor Shamsul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune that the cases were filed for publishing false stories against Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina without cross-checking the information provided by the DGFI during the 2007-2008 military-backed caretaker government.
The court fixed March 30 for hearing on the two cases.
Mahfuz Anam on a TV talk show on last Wednesday admitted that he made a "big mistake" by running "corruption" stories based on information provided by the DGFI during the 2007-2008 caretaker regime.
Meanwhile, two more cases were filed in Khulna and Lakshmipur districts on last Tuesday on the same ground, two days after a number of lawmakers demanded an immediate legal action on the editor of the English daily.
Earlier in February last year, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in parliament warned of stern action against The Daily Star for provoking militants through a photo published in the daily.
The daily published a poster of banned Hizb-ut Tahrir, with the caption "Fanatics raise their ugly head again" on February 11, 2015.
On February 15, 2015, a Dhaka court asked police to launch an inquiry against Daily Star Editor Mahfuz Anam and two of his colleagues.
