Bangladesh: Journalists hold demonstrations, demand release of female reporter
By Md. Kamruzzaman
DHAKA, Bangladesh: Hundreds of journalists held a human chain and organized demonstrations in Bangladeshi Capital Dhaka, demanding the immediate release of a female journalist, who was reportedly harassed and arrested from the Country’s Secretariat on Monday during her attempts to do an investigating report on corruption in the Health Ministry.
Journalist Rozina Islam, a senior crime reporter of the Country’s leading daily newspaper the Prothom Alo, was held by the government officials and then handed over to police in charge of illegally “collect sensitive government documents and taking photos of them” at the Health Ministry Monday evening.
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Staff correspondent
Staff correspondent
Civil society bodies and eminent citizens across the nation issued statements decrying the arrest of Prothom Alo senior correspondent Rozina Islam and demanded her immediate release.
Addressing a webinar by the Committee for the Protection of Fundamental Rights (Moulik Odhikar Shurokkha Committee), eminent jurist Dr Shahdeen Malik commented on the use of the Official Secrets Act against Rozina Islam. I have only found one judgment under this law, and it was given by the High Court in 1983. This is a clear example that the government is using the criminal code to silence journalists in new ways, he said.