Star editor gets bail in Madaripur

Mahfuz Anam, editor and publisher of The Daily Star, secured bail in a Tk 10 crore defamation case in Madaripur yesterday.

Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Zakir Hossain passed the order after Mahfuz Anam appeared before the court and sought bail.

Advocates Obaidur Rahman Khan, Sanjoy Bishwas, Sohel Ahmed and Chaitanya Chandra Halder represented the Star editor.

The court had asked Mahfuz Anam to appear before it yesterday after advocate Siddiqur Rahman, treasurer of Madaripur Awami League, filed the libel suit on February 18.

It is one of the 82 lawsuits that have been filed against Mahfuz Anam in 56 districts since February 9. The cases include 17 pleas for bringing sedition charges against him.

The case spree began after the editor at a TV talk show on February 3 made an introspective comment about a lapse in his editorial judgment in publishing some reports, based on information given by the Taskforce Interrogation Cell during the 2007-08 caretaker government rule, without being able to verify those independently.

The cases have drawn condemnation from local and foreign journalists and their unions as well as human rights bodies.