In Bangladesh, the Supreme Court has sentenced Bengali daily Amar Desh’s Acting editor Mahmudur Rahman who is currently in detention for six months’ imprisonment for contempt of court. The six member appellate division bench headed by Chief Justice M Fazlul Karim gave its ruling on a contempt petition case filed by two Supreme Court lawyers over a report published on April 21 in the daily Amar Desh. The petitioners argued that the Acting editor of paper had cast aspersions on the independence of the judiciary in the Bengali article with the headline “Chamber manei sarkar pakkhe stay” meaning “Chamber bench means stay order in favour of the government”. The court also imposed a fine of one lakh taka on Mahmudur Rahman and he will have to serve an additional one month in prison if he fails to pay the fine. Mahmudur Rahman who also served as adviser to the previous BNP led government is already in detention after being arrested for his alleged involvement in several other cases. Attorney General of Bangladesh, Mahbubey Alam said this is the first time the Supreme Court has convicted any person and sentenced him to jail for committing contempt of court.