Bangladesh: HC asks govt to stop Al Jazeera report streaming in Bangladesh
The High Court on Wednesday asked the government to take immediate step to stop further streaming of Al Jazeera Television’s telecasted video documentary ‘All the Prime Minister’s Men’s’ by digital streaming platforms in Bangladesh.
The online bench of Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah and Justice Md Kamrul Hossain Mollah came up with the directive.
The court asked the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission’s chairman to stop further streaming of the Al Jazeera’ documentary in question in consultation with the authorities of Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and Twitter.
The court earlier heard for three days a writ petition filed by ruling Awami League leader and a Supreme Court lawyer Amanul Kabir Emon on February 8.
The petitioner sought a directive to block or ban broadcasting of Al Jazeera Television, calling its documentary ‘misleading, malicious and defamatory’.
The court observed that it was not inclined to ban the international TV channel as Bangladesh laws empowered the information ministry to stop telecast of any Television channels in Bangladesh.
At the hearing attorney general AM Amin Uddin supported the writ petition and prayed for necessary orders.
‘The BTRC can’t request the owners of various international digital streaming platforms to stop streaming them in Bangladesh unless there is an order passed by a court,’ the attorney general told the court quoting the BTRC’s chairman.
BTRC’s legal adviser Khandaker Reza-E-Raquaib also supported the attorney general’s contention and prayed for a suo motu directive to ask the telecom regulatory authority to block the Al Jazeera link if the present writ petition was not maintainable.
Earlier on February 15, five of six amicus curiae in their opinions before the High Court opposed the writ petition stating that the petition was not acceptable as the petitioner was not a proper person to seek a ban on Al-Jazeera’s telecast or block its link in Bangladesh.
On February 10, the High Court decided to hear opinions of the six lawyers whether the broadcast of the Doha-based Al Jazeera could be banned or blocked in Bangladesh.
The Al Jazeera report, 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 Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Bangladesh Army, the home affairs minister and the ruling Awami League have, however, rejected the Al Jazeera report outright and condemned it as politically motivated ‘smear campaign’.
New Age
