DHAKA: Detained acting editor of the Amar Desh Mahmudur Rahman was Thursday awarded 6 months’ imprisonment by the country’s apex court for running a contemptuous write-up.

Dealing a double-blow for the contempt-of-court offence, the Supreme Court also fined the former energy adviser-turned-editor to pay Tk 1 lakh or suffer one more month in jail in default.

A six-member full court of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Mohammad Fazlul Karim, handed down the verdict for publishing a report in the daily on April 21 with the headline ‘Chamber manei sarker pakkhe stay’ or chamber bench means stay order in favour of the government.

On May 2, Supreme Court lawyers Mohammad Riazuddin Khan and Kazi Mainul Hassain filed the contempt case against five journalists of the newspaper, including Mahmudur Rahman, for publishing the report.

During the hearing, Mahmudur Rahman said, “I did not commit contempt of the court by publishing the report. The Attorney-General office rather should be sued on contempt-of-court charge for cheating by supplying false information.”

The court also sentenced staff reporter of the daily Oliullah Noman to one-month jail and fined him Tk 10,000. He will have to serve an extra seven days in prison in failure to pay the fines.

The Bengali daily`s publisher, Hashmat Ali, was also fined Tk 10,000. He will also have to serve seven days in default.

The apex court, however, acquitted Deputy Editor of the daily Syed Abdal Ahmed and News Editor Mujtahid Faruqui of the charge.

Attorney-General Mahbube Alam and barrister Rafique-Ul-Haque attended the hearing.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Supreme Court issued another contempt-of-court rule against Mahmudur Rahman and Desh publisher Hashmat Ali for publishing a commentary in the daily.

In the rule the apex court gave them up to August 24 to explain why they “should not be punished” for publishing the report titled ‘Swadhin bicharer name tamasa’ meaning ‘farce in the name of independent judiciary’ in the paper on May 10.

BDST: 1317 HRS, AUG 19, 2010.