The High Court on Wednesday decided to hear legal opinion from six senior lawyers on whether the telecast of Qatar-based Al Jazeera Television channel could be banned or blocked in Bangladesh for airing a ‘misleading, malicious and defamatory’ video documentary titled ‘All the Prime Minister’s Men’ on February 1.
The court asked the six lawyers—former attorneys general AJ Mohammad Ali and Fida M Kamal, senior lawyers Kamal-ul Alam, Abdul Matin Khasru, Shahdeen Malik and Prabir Neogi—to give their opinion on February 15.
The court asked the senior lawyers to give their opinion on whether the writ petition filed by a Supreme Court lawyer seeking ban or block the telecast of an international TV channel without demanding TV’s authority’s statements was maintainable or the writ petitioner was ‘an aggrieved person,’.
The court also asked the six lawyers to give an opinion on whether it was necessary to remove or delete or block streaming of the Al Jazeera’s links of the documentary and an article titled ‘The gangster, the general and the prime minister of Bangladesh.’
The links are now available in various streaming platforms like Facebook, Tweeters and YouTube in Bangladesh after the documentary and the article were published by the Al Jazeera TV and posted on its website.
The online bench of Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah and Justice Md Kamrul Hossain Mollah preferred to hear the legal opinion as writ petitioner M Amanul Kabir Emon, also a ruling Awami League leader and lawyer, could not satisfy the court over the legal aspects raised by the court during the hearing.
The court also adjourned the hearing on the matter until February 15.
The petitioner sought a ruling on the authorities asking them to explain why their failure and inaction in banning and blocking the broadcast of the Al Jazeera TV channel and the Al Jazeera website in Bangladesh would not be declared illegal.
The Al Jazeera report, over an hour-long film with narration, accused the Bangladesh Army chief, General Aziz Ahmed, of providing illegal supports to his brothers, convicted and fugitive, to establish and run businesses abroad, that too, with the tacit approval of the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina.
The petition was filed on Monday in the wake of ruling Awami League’s claim that the report was ‘motivated, baseless and part of a conspiracy against the government of Sheikh Hasina’.
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission’s lawyer Khandaker Reza-E-Raquib supported the petitioner’s prayer to block the telecast of the Al Jazeera TV in Bangladesh and told the court that the BTRC would request the streaming platform authorities to remove Al Jazeera’s news documentary link in Bangladesh.
mj/
