3 April 2021
On 28 March, 2021, Additional Chief Magistrate Md. Hasibul Haque took due cognizance of a petition brought by a Mr. Md. Rabiul Alam Jewel, a lawyer by profession and the Organisational Secretary of the Central Executive Committee of Bangabandhu Law Students’ Association (an approved offshoot of the Awami League Legal Committee), who included in his complaint that the Daily Nobojug and its editorial panel and publisher along with those who participated in the relevant article “Al-Jajeera Documentary, Mushtaq’s death in prison and thoughts of the Expats” were guilty of treason and seditionary attempts amongst other offences.
Magistrate Haque allowed the petition to be filed (CR Ref: 120/2021) under the Sections 123A, 124A, 505, 505A, and 34 of the Penal Code 1860, Bangladesh and directed the petitioner to liaise with the relevant wing of the Home Ministry in order to commence the investigation stage. No further date has been set as yet.
The court sources confirmed that the petition listed at least 27 individuals as accused who are – Shiplu Kumar Barmon, Esrat Rashid (Editor, The Daily Nobojug), Ali Amin (Publisher, The Daily Nobojug), Jony Joseph De Costa (Assistant Editor, The Daily Nobojug), Nurul Huda (Senior Assistant Editor, The Daily Nobojug), Mukit Chowdhury, Md Imran Hossain, Biplob Paul, Noor Miah, Ahsanul Huda Sarker, Md. Jakir Hossain, Mizanur Rahman, Md Razim Hossain, Umma Kulsum Nargis Banu, Ahsanul Kabir, Nurul Faruque Shaker, Md Rukon Mia, Md Ashif Hossain, Md. Masum Sajjad, Md. Arath Hossen Rony, Mohammad Shahidul Islam Jaigirder, Md. Obaidur Rahman Khan, Md. Al-Amin Kaiser, and Md. Sabbir Hossain amongst others.
The entire saga began when the Daily Nobojug invited in February 2021 comments and write-ups from its readers on the issues surrounding Al-Jazeera’s controversial documentary on the current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Army Chief and his family history and the death of writer Mushtaq Ahmed in prison. This resulted in the publication of the aforementioned article on 22 March 2021 by the Daily Nobojug on their web-page. In that article, unadulterated attacks were launched by the contributing commenters on the prime minister herself, her family and the father of the nation in such a way which could only be described as defamatory, aggressive, criminally intimidatory, and life-threatening.
The comments appeared to long for a repeat of the massacre of the Sheikh family in 1975. The comments were also openly hostile to the Digital Security Act 2018 and in particular the leading judge of the Cyber Tribunal along with those judge/judges who refused the late Mushtaq Ahmed bail on a number of occasions. The article also contained open invitations to the foreign powers to invade and attack Bangladesh so that the current government could be removed from the levers of power which, clearly, is an invitation to attack the sovereignty and independence of Bangladesh as a free country.
The lawyer acting for the petitioner, Advocate. Mr. Apple said “This is a very distressing case and the nature of the allegations brought by my client is not ordinary but this complaint is important and I am pleased that the magistrate has taken into account the seriousness of the complaint and admitted the case.
This kind of publication is very harmful to the interests of Bangladesh as a state and whilst I am fully respectful to any person’s right to free speech and right to freedom of expression, this is a qualified constitutional right, not an absolute one. It is my view and I believe others would agree that the sovereignty of the state trumps the rights of freedom to expression and free speech as it should be. I invite the government to take a robust position on this kind of abuse and misuse of these freedoms.”
We contacted the Deputy Commissioner’s office comment on its approach towards this case but no comment was made available.
We also contacted the Daily Nobojug but have not yet heard back from them although we noticed that they have published a short response to the reports of this case having been filed against them. In this response, they attempted to justify their position and their right to publish critical comments on the current government and issued a warning that if this kind of lawsuit persisted, free and fair journalism would be eradicated soon.
