Matiur Rahman, editor of Prothom Alo, has also been named as an accused in the case at Ramna police station, under which Samsuzzaman was sent to jail. The plaintiff in this case is High Court Advocate Abdul Malek (Mashioor Malek).
The two cases were filed by Prothom Alo over allegations of questioning the country’s image and achievements by a ‘graphic card’ shared on Facebook on March 26 from an online report in the newspaper. When discrepancies were discovered in the Facebook post, the post was removed and a correction was published.
For the past few days, ministers and leaders of the ruling party have been using this post to condemn Prothom Alo. The bodies affiliated to the party have also been organizing various programmes.
Editors Council, Newspaper Owners Association of Bangladesh (NOAB) and various human rights, journalists, political and civil society organizations as well as eminent personalities of the country have demanded that the case against the editor of Prothom Alo be withdrawn and he be arrested . Journalist Samsuzzaman should be released. Various countries and international organizations have also expressed their concern on this matter.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, has said that the Digital Security Act is being used across Bangladesh to arrest journalists and human rights activists, harass and spread intimidation and silence online critics. He called on the Bangladesh government to immediately suspend the implementation of the Digital Security Act.