The Bangladesh supreme court has imposed a six-month jail sentence on Mahmudur Rahman, the acting editor of the opposition daily Amar Desh, and a one-month jail sentence on Oliullah Noman, one of his reporters, for contempt of court, Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported.
Headed by Chief Justice Mohammad Fazlul Karim, the supreme court panel on Thursday found Rahman and Noman guilty of contempt of court in connection with an article published last April that angered judges by accusing them of granting injunctions requested by the government. The court also fined Rahman 100,000 takas (1,000 euros) and Noman 10,000 takas, with the proviso that they will have to serve additional jail terms if the fines are not paid. News editor Mostahid Faruqui and deputy editor Syed Abdal Ahmed were acquitted.
“The authorities are trying to relieve prison overcrowding by freeing lots of detainees, yet the supreme court has passed jail terms on these two journalists,” RSF said. “This is absurd. The government and the courts are making a mistake by targeting the opposition media. They are not the enemy.”
It said, “We call on President Zillur Rahman to pardon Rahman and Noman, who have no place being in detention, especially as this jail sentence will prevent Rahman from taking over the running of the newspaper again or being a candidate in elections.”
Detained since June 1, Rahman has been mistreated while in detention. He is due to be tried soon on another contempt court charge for an article headlined “Farce in the name of independent justice.” He is also facing charges of sedition and fraud. The investigators in these cases have not yet transmitted their findings to the judicial authorities.
