Bangladesh
Editor and reporter of opposition-linked newspaper sentencedPosted Sep 16 2010
Mahmudur Rahman, the editor of the Amar Desh newspaper has been sentenced to six years in prison and fined BDT 100,000 (about $1,500 USD) for contempt of court, the International Press Institute reported. Staff reporter Aliullah Noman was also sentenced to one month in jail and fined BDT 10,000 (about $150 USD). The verdicts were handed down on Thursday, August 19.
Rahman’s publication is politically affliliated with the opposition Bangladesh National Party.
They have been detained as a result of an April 21 article that criticized the judicial, according to local news reports.
A legal counselor in Dhaka told IPI that under Bangladesh law, anything that maligns or scandalizes the court of law in the eyes of the public is considered to be contemptuous.
The International Federation of Journalists reports that this is the first conviction of such handed down by Bangladesh’s supreme court, and there is no option for appeal.