Bangla daily editor sued for report demanding removal of PM's top aide
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Dhaka: The editor of the Daily Inqilab newspaper in Bangladesh has been sued under the Digital Security Act for publishing a column calling on the government to remove the Prime Minister's political adviser.
A.M.M. Bahauddin is the editor of the daily founded by his father and late politician Maulana Mannan who was accused of war crimes. The daily's reporter Stalin Sarkar was also sued, police said here.
Mannan was a key collaborator of the invading Pakistan Army during the 1971 Bangladesh war. He was widely accused of crimes against humanity.
Mannan also made many statements supporting the genocide and rape committed by Pakistani armed forces. He had close ties with members of the Pakistan Army who were involved in the killings of Bangladeshi intellectuals.
The case against Daily Inquilab was filed at Gulshan police station. Duty officer Narzul Islam said that lawyer Soumitra Sarkar filed the case as the daily published a report titled 'Remove H.T. Imam' on Thursday.
The daily published a report against Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's political adviser H.T. Imam on June 26.
After his Mannan's death, his son Bahauddin continued publishing the daily as editor and was accused of publishing offensive, distorted, and derogatory information against secular personalities and intellectuals.
The column published by the Daily Inqilab was seen as virtually directing the government to remove the Prime Minister's political adviser.
"I think what has been written about the administration of Bangladesh is a conspiracy to destabilise the government. The report provides extremely offensive, false, distorted, baseless, derogatory and offensive information about the government, parliament and top government officials as part of a conspiracy to destabilise the state and create discontent against the government," said lawyer Soumitra Sarkar.