The Daily Star Editor and Publisher Mahfuz Anam today secured bail in two defamation cases filed in Shariatpur.

Senior Judicial Magistrate Shahidul Islam passed the order after Mahfuz Anam appeared before the court and sought bail this morning.

An ex-president of the district unit Bangladesh Chhatra League, Nurul Amin Kotwal, and central Organising Secretary of Awami Muktijuddho Prajanma League Hasibul Islam on February 13 filed the defamation suits.

The cases are of the 84 lawsuits that have been filed against the editor in 56 districts since February 9. The cases include 17 pleas for bringing sedition charges against him.

The case spree began after the editor at a TV talk show on February 3 made an introspective comment about a lapse in his editorial judgment in publishing some reports, based on information given by the Taskforce Interrogation Cell during the 2007-08 caretaker government rule, without being able to verify those independently.

The cases have drawn condemnation from local and foreign journalists and their unions as well as human rights bodies.