Dhaka, Sep 30 (Just News): Accepting information minister Hasanul Haq Inu’s request for talks over the Digital Security Act, Editors’ Council sat for talks with ministers at Secretariat on Sunday.
Information minister Hananul Haq Inu, law minister Anisul Haque, posts, telecommunications and information technology minister Mostafa Jabbar, prime minister’s media adviser Iqbal Sobhan participated in the meeting which started at 12:25pm.
13 members of Editors’ Council including The Daily Star editor Mahfuz Anam, New Age editor Nurul Kabir, Manabzamin editor Matiur Rahman Chowdhury, Prothom Alo editor Matiur Rahman, Kaler Kantho editor Imdadul Haq Milan and Bangladesh Pratidin editor Naem Nizam attended the meeting.
Editors’ Council postponed its human chain, scheduled for Saturday protesting against the passage of the Digital Security Bill, accepting the information minister’s request.
In a statement issued Thursday evening, council general secretary Mahfuz Anam said that the council expected that media-gagging sections of the bill would be scrapped following the discussion, or else, it would continue the protests.
The statement said that all the stakeholders, including the editors’ platform, thought that the passage of the Digital Security Bill was a serious blow to media freedom.
It said that the council had expressed its concerns to the government over the bill before its passage. Even during the parliamentary committee meetings, the council and other stakeholders made specific objections and registered protest against certain sections of the bill.
(Justnews/ys/1410hr)
