By Abdul Rahman Courtesy  InDepthNews

DHAKA, Bangladesh | 18 September 2024 (IDN) — On September 16, the Bangladeshi police arrested two senior journalists, Mozammel Babu and Shyamal Dutta when they were allegedly trying to leave the country. With their arrests, the total number of journalists arrested since the coming of the interim government in power has reached five. Dozens of other journalists in the country face the similar fate while some of them have been subjected to physical violence as well.

Babu and Dutta were surrounded by a mob at the country’s Mymensingh when they were allegedly trying to cross the border to India in a car with another journalist and escorted to the nearest police station, the Daily Star reported.

Babu was the managing director and editor in chief of Ekattor TV, one of the country’s biggest media organizations. He is also the president of the Bangladesh Editors Guild. Dutta is the former secretary general of Jatiya Press Club (National Press Club).

The third journalist arrested on the same day was Shahriar Kabir. All three of them were sent to seven days police remand on Tuesday.

All three were considered close to the Sheikh Hasina-led government and were critical to the quota reform movement led by the students. The Editors Guild of Bangladesh under the leadership of Babu had accused that a section of the quota agitation was against the heroes of the country’s liberation war with Pakistan in 1971.

The groups leading the quota reform agitation prepared a list of 51 traitor journalists” whom they wanted to be removed from their positions and barred from doing their profession due to their criticism of the quota movement. The student groups, who are represented in the interim government, have alleged that journalists named in their list were involved in anti-national activities. Both Dutta and Babu were named in the list.

The quota reform movement started in June this year after a high court overturned an earlier decision of the Hasina government to ban reservations of government jobs for the descendants of the freedom fighters. The students were initially demanding removal of high reservation in government jobs. Later, the agitation turned into a movement of regime change forcing Hasina to resign and leave the country in the first week of August.

On August 29, the interim government in Bangladesh filed a case against 25 journalists holding them responsible for the death of a protester in July. They were also charged with crimes against humanity. The list includes Babu and Dutta.

Journalists Mozammel Babu, Shyamal Dutta. Credit: The Daily Star

Earlier, journalist couple Shakil Ahmed Farzana Rupa were arrested at Dhaka international airport on August 21 when they allegedly were trying to leave the country for France. Both of them were working with Ekattor TV until they were sacked by the management on August 8. They were also on the list of 51 journalists mentioned above, bdnews24.com reported.

Ahmed and Rupa were also charged with the death of another protester in July.

Political vendetta?

A large number of journalists have been attacked by the protesters since the interim government took charge in early August, Reporters without Borders (RSF) claims. It also claims the cases against the journalists are without any base and outrageous and part of a ‘systematic judicial harassment of journalists.”

The purge of journalists who are considered to be affiliated with the former government has reached a new level. Media professionals are bearing the brunt of the need of vengeance that permeates this terrible legal cabal, which is hurting the image of political transition underway in Bangladesh,” said Antoine Bernard, RSF’s director of advocacy and assistance.

Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ) too asked the government to drop murder charges against journalists calling it unfair. While it is appropriate for any journalist to face if the specific allegations are proven, it is unjustifiable to entangle them in murder cases merely on accusations of assisting the previous government,” it said in a statement reported in the media.

Since taking power, the interim government led by Mohammad Yunus has been widely criticized for carrying out seemingly politically motivated arrests, targeting members of the Awami League and of the parties that were part of the coalition government. It has also taken a passive position with regards to violence against the Awami League and its allies with scores of leaders killed or their offices vandalized.

A large number of members of the Hasina government have been charged with the death of protesters and sent to jail. Hasina too is facing similar charges.

Left leaders, Rashed Khan Menon and Hasanul Haq Inu presidents of Workers Party of Bangladesh (WPB) and Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD), were arrested in similar cases despite the fact that they were not officially part of Hasina government at the time of the student agitation.

Sharif Shamshir, a member of the WPB told Peoples Dispatch that, media in the country is facing assaults because they are considered as the allies of the Awami League just like the left parties.

Journalists are arrested not because they committed any real crime but because they were considered to be allies of the Hasina government and their fate depends on how the parties close to the new system think about them in the end,” Shamsir said. [IDN-InDepthNews]

Original link: https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/09/17/bangladeshs-interim-government-accused-of-political-persecution-of-journalists/

Photo: Muhammad Yunus is leading Bangladesh’s interim government. Credit: Wikimedia Commons