A senior Bangladeshi official has said that the state is not behind the prosecution of Bangladeshi journalist and editor of Daily Star Mahfuz Anam. Bangladeshi Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu said that families of victims of military regime had brought on the charges.

The minister was speaking to a group of journalists at the residence of Bangladeshi Ambassador in Kathmandu on Friday. Inu, who had arrived in Kathmandu to attend the 13th General Convention of the Nepali Congress, said that court proceedings were taking place in a free and fair manner and journalists and diplomats were free to observe it.

The minister accused Mahfuz of doing military’s bidding during 2007-2008. “This he has confessed,” Inu said. “While our prime minister has said that he should resign, the government has taken no action against him.”

On February 3, Mahfuz told a talk show that he regretted some of the decisions he took as an editor to publish stories that was based on information provided by the military intelligence.

Since then the supporters of the ruling Awami League have filed over 66 court cases against him, according to media reports.

Mahfuz’s daughter Tahmima Anam wrote an article in the New York Times on Friday where she provides context to the stories he ran in the Daily Star between 2007 and 2008.

“During this period, the intelligence services supplied stories to the press in the form of transcripts, audiotapes and videos in which people confessed to having bribed government officials, including the Awami League leader and current prime minister, Sheikh Hasina. These reports couldn’t be independently verified, but The Daily Star, along with other media outlets, ran the stories anyway,” she wrote.

Meanwhile, Minister Inu has said that both Nepal and Bangladesh should intensify engagement and that they should take advantage of Nepal’s access to Banglabandh Port to diversify trade and relations.