How did Moti-Mahfuz got away with insulting the Prophet (PBUH)?

September 18, 2007. A cartoon insulting the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was published in Alpin, a cartoon magazine of Prothom Alo. According to the Press and Publications Act everything printed in a newspaper is the responsibility of the editor and publisher of that newspaper. Alpin was the Prothom-Alo-controlled weekly magazine and it used to come in the market as a publication of Prothom Alo. But when the cartoon was published insulting the Holy Prophet (PBUH), Prothom Alo editor Matiur Rahman shied away from all responsibility. Even the then Prothom-Alo publisher Mahfuz Anam did not take responsibility for this incident. After the publication of this cartoon insulting the holy religion and the Holy Prophet (PBUH), the pious people of this country were blown away. They also surrounded the Prothom Alo office. At that time an unelected government led by Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed was in power. Matiur Rahman and Mahfuz Anam were the patrons behind this unelected government. Both of them conspired to exclude Sheikh Hasina from politics. Prothom Alo and Daily Star were the main tools of Dr. Fakhruddin's government in corrupting the character of politicians. Religious people all over the country demanded a ban on Prothom Alo. But the Fakhruddin government did not take any action against Prothom Alo for obvious reasons.

Matiur Rahman and Mahfuz Anam took a different strategy at that time. They blamed Alpin cartoonist Arifur Rahman for all the incidents and later he was arrested. And Sumant Aslam, who was in charge of Alpin, was fired. But we all know that Alpin is a publication of Prothom Alo. If so, then how can the editor and publisher avoid the responsibility by punishing a cartoonist and a journalist in charge of that newspaper? At that time people from all walks of life demanded their arrest. But nothing happened. They easily got away with it because they were the footsteps of the unelected government. Matiur Rahman cleverly blamed two employees and went to Baitul Mukarram and apologized to the Khatib.

A case of blasphemy was filed excluding the editor and publisher of Prothom Alo and on March 20, 2008, a Dhaka court adjourned the case and granted bail to Arifur Rahman. The suspension was later revoked on November 12, 2009 and Arifur Rahman was declared a fugitive. The court sentenced Arifur Rahman to two months’ imprisonment and fined him Tk 500 in the case. The point is on September 18, 2007, several cases were filed in different parts of the country in protest of insulting the holy religion and the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and according to the law of Bangladesh, insulting religion or insulting the Holy Prophet (PBUH) is a punishable offense.

Nine cases against Matiur Rahman and Mahfuz Anam are still pending in this offense. There is no progress in these cases. It is an unprecedented incident the way a cartoonist and a departmental editor was made responsible for an incident published in a newspaper. This is contrary to editorial policy. A personable editor and publisher can never do this. But more importantly, why are the lawsuits filed against the editor and publisher of Prothom Alo after insulting the Prophet (PBUH) now frozen? So Matiur Rahman, the editor of Prothom Alo, and Mahfuz Anam, the editor of the Daily Star (then the publisher of Prothom Alo) are above all laws? Are they out of reach?