DHAKA: Bangladesh’s high court granted bail on Sunday to Matiur Rahman, one of the country’s most respected editors, after he was charged under a controversial digital law.

Matiur Rahman, 78, the editor of the Bengali-language daily Prothom Alo, requested bail after a lawyer filed a case against him and a reporter last week under the Digital Security Act.

The law has been criticised by the United Nations and human rights groups as a tool to crack down on dissent and harass journalists in retaliation for their work.

“He was granted six weeks of bail,” Rahman’s lawyer Z.I. Khan Panna told journalists outside the courthouse.

The case against Rahman and reporter Shamsuzzaman Shams stems from a March 26 story on Bangladesh’s Independence Day that quoted ordinary people on their struggles to afford basic necessities.

As in many nations, the food prices have soared in Bangladesh following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The taka has also fallen sharply against the US dollar.