The High Court on Tuesday set Wednesday to hear a writ petition seeking a court directive to the government and police to block the broadcast of Al Jazeera TV in Bangladesh.
Md Anamul Kabir Emon, a Supreme Court lawyer and Sunamganj district unit Awami League general secretary, filed the writ as the channel had broadcast a ‘misleading, malicious and defamatory video documentary’ titled ‘All the Prime Minister’s Men’ on February 1.
He also sought another order to block the Al Jazeera website in Bangladesh where the links of the documentary and an article titled ‘The gangster, the general and the prime minister of Bangladesh’ were published on February 2.
An online bench of Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah and Justice Md Kamrul Hossain Mollah, which was scheduled to hear the matter in the afternoon, however, said that it would hear the matter on Wednesday morning since ‘the matter is extremely urgent and importance.’
Anamul further prayed for a direction to the Digital Security Agency director general and the inspector general of the police to take immediate measures to investigate the widespread streaming of the documentary available on various social media or digital platforms, and take action against those who might have been contributed to spreading the documentary and article.
The Al Jazeera report, an hour-long film with narration, claimed that the army chief extended illegal support to his brothers, convicted and fugitives, to establish and run business overseas.
Awami League claimed that the report was ‘motivated, baseless and part of a conspiracy against the government of Sheikh Hasina’.
