Daily Star editor sued in Khulna, Lakshmipur

Two defamation cases have been filed against The Daily Star editor Mahfuz Anam in Khulna and Lakshmipur for carrying confusing and defamatory reports in his English-language daily on Sheikh Hasina after the 1/11 political changeover, reports news agency UNB.

In Lakshmipur, district unit Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) president Chowdhury Mahmudunnabi Sohel filed a Tk-50 crore defamation case with the court of additional chief judicial magistrate Farzana Akhter on Monday.

Taking cognisance of the complaint, the court asked the complainant to submit copies of the news items published in the Daily Star in 2007, said Sohel’s counsel Russell Mahmud Bhuiyan.

Talking to reporters, Sohel said Mahfuz Anam in a television talk-show confessed to running stories in his newspaper in 2007 against Sheikh Hasina with unsubstantiated facts of corruption provided by the then DGFI without any scrutiny.

The image of Awami League president Sheikh Hasina and BCL had been damaged following the reports, Sohel said.

In Khulna, district BCL general secretary Mushfiqur Rahman Sagar filed another Tk-100 crore defamation case with the chief metropolitan magistrate court against the English daily editor on the same charges.

The court fixed 3 March for the next hearing.