Bangladesh
Tarique Speech Tarique Rahman's speech ordered to be removed from social media
Own Correspondent, Dhaka, 28 August 2023: The High Court has directed the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) to remove all the recent statements of BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman from social media. On Monday, the bench comprising Justice Md. Khasruzzaman and Justice Md. Khairul Alam of the High Court gave this order.
On Sunday (August 27), Advocate Nasreen Siddika Lina applied to the relevant branch of the High Court Division of the Supreme Court. On August 22, the High Court ordered the inclusion in the agenda for the hearing of the ruling on banning the speech of BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman from media and social media.
Among them, a pro-BNP lawyer has applied to be a party to the rule hearing on the ban on the speech of the BNP Acting Chairman.
Advocate Abdul Jabbar Bhuiyan, the former vice-president of the Supreme Court Lawyers Association and the president of the Nationalist Lawyers Forum Supreme Court Unit of BNP lawyers, presented this application for partiality in the relevant bench of the High Court on Wednesday. The High Court dismissed the application after hearing that day.
Meanwhile, on the same day, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) informed the court to give a written response to the rule regarding the ban on the publication of Tarique Rahman's speech in the media and social media.
Earlier, on Tuesday (August 22), the same bench of the High Court fixed Wednesday (August 23) for the final hearing of the ruling on the ban on the speech of Tarique Rahman. Following that, the trial began. The petitioners recently applied for the hearing of the ruling, which has not been heard for about eight and a half years, regarding the publicity of Tarique Rahman's speech.
The petitioner's lawyers told the court that the notice of the rule was sent to Tarique Rahman's home address in Gulshan on the instructions of the High Court. It is also advertised on the notice board of the Supreme Court and in a national daily.
In response, pro-BNP lawyers told the court that the address to which the notice was sent in Gulshan was not the current address of Tarique Rahman. He is now in London, so notice should be sent to that address.
In 2015, Supreme Court lawyer Nasreen Siddiqui Lina filed a petition seeking a ban on broadcasting the speech of BNP Acting Chairman (then Senior Vice Chairman) Tarique Rahman for making various comments about the history of Bangladesh and Bangabandhu. After hearing the writ, the relevant bench of the High Court issued an interim order along with the rule.
