Two journos, Somoy TV CEO sued under DSA

Two journalists and an official of Somoy TV have been sued under the controversial Digital Security Act over airing a report on corruption allegations against a Noakhali court official, Mohammad Alamgir.

Alamgir, najir (sheriff) of Noakhali District Judge's Court, filed the case with Chattogram Cyber Tribunal on May 11 against six people, including the private TV channel's Senior Reporter Afzal Hossain, Senior News Editor Manwar Hossain and Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Ahmed Jobaer.

The three other accused are: Md Jahangir Alam from Dhaka's Green Road area, Mashiur Rahman from Bagrakosa village in Sherpur, and Subel Ahmed from Chunarughat in Habiganj.

The plaintiff filed the case after Somoy TV ran the report under the headline "Adaloter Tritiyo Srenir Karmacharir Aboidho Sampader Pahar" (mountain of illegal assets of a third class employee of a court) on February 23.

Alamgir in the case statement claimed that the report was "untrue, false, fake, baseless, vindictive and defamatory".

He also filed a Tk 10 crore defamation case with the First Joint District Judge's Court in Noakhali on May 5 against the same six accused over running the report.

The complainant said his and his family's reputation and prestige were damaged due to the broadcasting of the "false" report by Somoy TV.

Contacted, journalist Afzal, an accused in the cases, said they prepared the report based on the charge sheets in two corruption cases against Alamgir.

The Anti-Corruption Commission had filed the two cases against Alamgir on charges of amassing illegal wealth and laundering money, he told The Daily Star yesterday.

Afzal also said he did not know the three other co-accused in the two cases and that he had no idea why they were accused.

Describing the Digital Security Act, 2018 as a gag on the free press, different rights bodies and platforms of journalists have criticised use of the law against the media, journalists and rights activists.