Prothom Alo editor, ex-publisher exempted

The Supreme Court today exempted Bangla daily Prothom Alo editor Matiur Rahman, former publisher Mahfuz Anam and two reporters from contempt charges granting their appeal against a High Court verdict that convicted them for running a report on an additional judge's 'tempering' with law examination results.

The court also cleared Bhorer Kagoj publisher Saber Hossain Chowdhury from the charges, but turned down appeals by the newspaper's editor Abed Khan and reporter Samaresh Baidya.

Today's Supreme Court verdict proved that the report published by the dailies on the tempering of the exam results was not contemptuous, Prothom Alo lawyer Barrister Sara Hossain and Bhorer Kagoj lawyer AM Aminuddin told The Daily Star in an immediate reaction.

Ruling that Samaresh will have to pay Tk 1,000 or serve seven days in jail in default, the Appellate Division bench modified HC sentence handed down to Abed Khan. It however did not disclose the modified judgement in its short order.

Justice Nazmun Ara Sultana headed the four-member bench that delivered the verdict after hearing three separate appeals filed by the journalists against the 2005 HC verdict.

The two dailies carried reports on October 30 in 2004 that High Court additional judge Faisal Mahmud Faizee had tampered with his LLB results that he obtained from the Chittagong University (CU) in 1989.

Faizee's father Advocate Mohammad Faiz filed the contempt suit against the editors, publishers and reporters of the two newspapers.

On March 21, 2005, the HC fined Prothom Alo editor, then publisher and two reporters -- Enamul Haq Bulbul and Masud Milad -- Tk 1,000 each, failing which they were to serve one month in prison.

The court also handed down similar punishment to Bhorer Kagoj's former editor Abed Khan and Publisher Saber Hossain Chowdhury.

The court also sentenced Baidya to two months of rigorous imprisonment and slapped him Tk 2,000 in fine for not only printing the news, but also the photograph of the additional judge in question.

The convicts later appealed against the judgement with the Supreme Court.

FAISAL MAHMUD FAIZEE

A law graduate from Chittagong University (CU), Faizee was one of the 19 judges appointed to the High Court by the BNP-led four-party alliance government on August 23, 2004.

Months after the tempering came to light through the newspaper reports, the LLB certificate of Faizee was cancelled at a special meeting of CU syndicate on March 3, 2007. Later, the varsity authorities published a gazette mentioning the names of students whose certificates were cancelled. Faizee's name was mentioned in the gazette.

The chief justice later withdrew Faizee from the judiciary and decided not to put him on any bench to uphold the image of the country's judicial system. Faizee could not preside over any case or draw his salary since then but he continued to sit in his chamber.

On July 13, 2007, Faizee resigned.

In the resignation letter, he said, "A vested political quarter has been spreading propaganda against me and they are involved in tarnishing the image of the Supreme Court judges. As a result I had to seek justice from the Supreme Court several times. Under the circumstances, I felt an urge to quit from my post to protect the image of the Supreme Court."