Bangladesh court rejects sedition case over Al Jazeera report

Bangladeshi lawyer sought to bring in sedition charges against four people, including Al Jazeera’s director general.

A court in Bangladesh has rejected an attempt to bring charges of sedition against the director general of Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN) and three others who contributed to an investigation into high-level corruption in the country. Advocate Moshiur Malek had filed the sedition charges on February 17 after Al Jazeera’s investigation – All The Prime Minister’s Men – revealed how the head of the Bangladesh Army, General Aziz Ahmed, helped his brother Haris Ahmed to escape a prison sentence for a 1996 murder. Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit tracked Haris Ahmed down to Hungary where he was living under the false identity of Mohammed Hasan and buying properties and businesses in Europe. The investigation published a range of documents that showed how the army chief abused his power to help his brother flee arrest.