DHAKA, Dec 9: An International press watchdog has called on Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus to urgently release journalists imprisoned in Bangladesh, saying at least four of them are languishing in prisons under “politically motivated murder charges”.
In a letter addressed to Yunus, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said, “Bangladesh currently holds four journalists in prison on murder charges, accusations that lack credible evidence and appear to be in retaliation for their reporting and perceived political affiliations.”
The letter, quoting the families of four journalists, Farzana Rupa, Shakil Ahmed, Mozammel Babu, and Shyamal Dutta, said they were languishing in high-security Kashimpur prison where “medical care is severely inadequate.”
They are being kept in conditions that raise “serious human rights concerns,” it added.
The New York-CPJ said since the interim government took office on August 8 last year, fresh murder charges have been filed against these four imprisoned journalists while their bail petitions were “repeatedly denied”.
“A lawyer representing several of the journalists, ZI Khan Panna, has also been named in a murder case,” read the letter issued ahead of International Human Rights Day on December 10.
Police arrested journalist couple Farzana Rupa and Shakil Ahmed in August 2024, while Babu and Dutta were arrested in September last year.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF), another journalists’ rights group, last month said five prominent Bangladeshi journalists were now in jail, with the fifth being freelancer Shahriar Kabir.
A sixth journalist, Monjurul Alam Panna, was released on bail last month after spending 75 days in detention.
Panna was arrested under tough anti-terrorism law along with several others, including 1971 Liberation War veterans, academics, doctors and former bureaucrats, as they joined a discussion on the Liberation War and Bangladesh Constitution.
“It is unacceptable for a journalist to be treated as a terrorist simply for taking part in a public debate about his country’s history,” the RSF said. (PTI)
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