Don’t shoot the messenger

The case of Bangladesh’s Daily Star editor Mahfuz Anam becomes more and more curious. What began as theatre of the absurd is starting to look increasingly sinister.

Anam, publisher and editor of the country’s leading daily, in a moment of introspection during a TV talk show last month, confessed to professional impropriety in printing leaks from military intelligence in 2007 under the army-backed caretaker government. The leaks contained unverified information alleging corruption by current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

“It was a big mistake. It was bad editorial judgement. I admit it without any doubt,” he said, in what could be regarded as laudable journalistic integrity.

Little did Anam know that his honest disclosure would threaten the very existence of his publishing house as it marked 25 years of operation. Within weeks of his admission he was inundated with lawsuits. Between Feb. 9 and 22, 79 cases were filed against the editor in 53 districts, 62 for defamation and 17 for treason -- all by ruling party members and lawyers. Close to a staggering 600 billion takas ($7.7 billion) is being sought in damages.

In a recent outburst, which suggested a tacit nod for the legal onslaught on Anam, Hasina lambasted the editor for playing a role in her incarceration during that period, and accused him of being involved in a military conspiracy.

In the prevailing atmosphere of the military government in 2007-08, other media outlets also published the same information over which Anam is now being relentlessly sued. Could the singular treatment signal that the Daily Star has become too independent for the liking of the powers that be? Or is its editor being made an example of as a warning to others?

There are also questions over the independence of Bangladesh’s judiciary. By no measure can Anam be accused of sedition, as defined by Bangladesh’s constitution, and yet 17 judges have accepted cases. Interestingly, 62 defamation cases against him have been filed in different courts, although the constitution states clearly that a person can be tried only once for an offence. Ironically, the two main figures who could claim to having been defamed -- Hasina and her political archrival Khaleda Zia -- are not among the plaintiffs. Effectively, third-party plaintiffs are claiming millions in damages, making a mockery of the legal process. The Awami League government’s agenda, whether overt or covert, seems to be to make this case an example for others in the media.

Such selective indignation conveniently overlooks the fact that Anam’s publications continued to call for the restoration of democracy under military rule.

Democracy in Bangladesh has been fragile, vulnerable to tumultuous political winds. It needs independent news media. For that to evolve, government must accept criticism and viewpoints differing from its own. Instead it pretends to have nothing to do with the flurry of lawsuits that will tie up the Daily Star editor in legal battles for years and, given its power to choke off revenue, could bring down his publishing house. Hasina’s belligerent statement that Anam should resign and that editors would be tried as war criminals shows a hardening of attitude. And therein lies the danger: the fallout for the morale of Bangladeshi media could be long-lasting.

Premier Hasina has paid an enormous price for her involvement in the vicious arena of national politics. Her entire family, all but one sister, was assassinated in a coup in 1975. As a leader in a volatile democracy, she has experienced political and judicial oppression, having been detained and tried numerous times. She has suffered the ignominy of trumped-up charges. It would be a travesty if she looks the other way while the same tactics used against her are now deployed to exact a heavy price for integrity.

The current case is not one of sedition or defamation but of journalistic ethics, and that is the direction in which the debate needs to be steered. In the interests of all parties, egos have to be set aside and the government should initiate a dialogue to resolve this mess. The politics of vendetta will brutally scar the country, just when the prime minister has begun earning good grades on the economy.

(The Nation /Asia News Network)