Four factual blunders by Sajeeb Wazed in new facebook post

Sajeeb Wazed, Bangladesh's prime minister's son has made a second facebook post in support of legal action against the editor of Bangladesh's most popular English language newspaper, The Daily Star - who now face 58 criminal defamation cases and 17 sedition cases all round the country.

To read the background about this: (i) The Daily Star, media ethics and hypocrisy - 12 things you need to know 

(ii) The increasing absurdity of the Mahfuz Anam affair

Wazed's new Facebook post however contains four significant factual errors (totally misunderstanding Bangladesh's legal system, and the role of the media) which undercuts his whole argument. In fact his own logic suggests that he should be seeking the removal of all the criminal cases against the Daily Star editor.  Lets see whether he does this in his next comment, which no doubt is coming any day soon. This post also raises four additional queries about Wazed's position on this issue.

THE ERRORS

1. The cases are not civil, they are criminal

He says:

"Several of our “civil society” and newspaper editors are criticizing the civil defamation lawsuits filed against Mahfuz Anam following his admission of running a false smear campaign against my mother. .... The cases are all civil in nature, claiming damages and monetary compensation."

In fact all the defamation cases against Mahfuz Anam are criminal in nature. They are not civil. The cases are lodged in the magistrates court and, if they are about defamation, involve a criminal offence under section 499 of the Penal Code and each offence lodged allows a sentence of imprisonment of upto 2 years imprisonment. (In fact, the claims for compensation - which are part of the cases - have no basis since the magistrate court has no jurisdiction; the plaintiff's have to go to a civil court if they wish to seek compensation.)