Govt supports lawyer’s plea to remove Al Jazeera link

Attorney general AM Amin Uddin on Wednesday supported the writ petition filed by a ruling Awami League leader and a Supreme Court lawyer seeking a directive to block the link of Al Jazeera Television’s video documentary ‘All the prime minister’s men’ from the digital streaming platforms in Bangladesh.

‘I have talked to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, which informed me that it wanted to block Al Jazeera TV’s telecasted documentary link but it could not request the owners of various international digital streaming platforms to stop streaming them in Bangladesh unless there was an order passed by a court,’ the attorney general told the High Court.

BTRC’s legal adviser Khandaker Reza-E-Raquaib prayed for a suo motu directive to ask the telecom regulatory authority to block the Al Jazeera link in question if the present writ petition was not maintainable.

The online bench of Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah and Justice Md Kamrul Hossain Mollah set to deliver an order at 3:00 pm today.

Earlier on February 15, five of six amicus curiae in their opinions before the High Court opposed the  February 8  writ petition of M Amanul Kabir Emon seeking a ban on Al Jazeera television channel in Bangladesh for airing a ‘misleading, malicious and defamatory’ documentary titled ‘All the prime minister’s men’ on February 1.

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’.

News Courtesy:

https://www.newagebd.net/article/130428/govt-supports-lawyers-plea-to-remove-al-jazeera-link