‘Journos facing unprecedented repression’
Claim 88 expats in statement, slam govt for ‘inaction’
News Desk
Shottobani
London: Eighty-eight expatriate Bangladeshis yesterday condemned and expressed deep concern over the “continued torture of journalists and suppression of free speech” in Bangladesh, saying such incidents have “frustrated and disheartened” them.
In a joint statement, the signatories — including journalists, writers, teachers, researchers, and cultural and rights activists — said repression of journalists has persisted since the August 5 uprising last year, which saw the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government and the consequent assuming of power by an interim government led by Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus.
They alleged that attempts are on in present-day Bangladesh to gag freedom of speech by “imposing various official and unofficial controls” on mass and social media — steps they described as “shameful and repulsive”.
They claimed that as per information gathered by them, in the past 11 months, at least 412 journalists have been implicated in various harassing cases, including murder charges.
Meanwhile, 39 journalists were arrested, and over 300 have had travel restrictions imposed against them. Bank accounts of more than 100 journalists were frozen, and corruption cases were filed against several by the Anti-Corruption Commission, they said.
During the same period, over 1,000 journalists reportedly lost their jobs, press accreditation cards of 168 were cancelled, and 101 journalists had their memberships in various press clubs — including Jatiya Press Club — suspended or revoked. In an unprecedented move, “the control of a media house” was also taken over, the alleged.
The statement added that although 10 journalists were killed and many others injured during and after the July uprising, the government has not provided any support to the victim families.
The signatories said the public also witnessed an event like a “ziafat” organised by a mob in front of a media house — something they described as unprecedented not only in Bangladesh but globally.
As a result of these repressive actions, many journalists and their families are suffering mentally, socially, and economically, and living a deplorable life. The numbers of such affected individuals continuing to rise, claimed the expatriates in the statement.
They believe the repression has played a major role in silencing free speech and damaging the country’s image globally.
Despite the widespread repression, including the filing of cases in a wholesale manner, the government has taken no preventive steps, the statement said.
“This made us suspect that the government itself has been involved in the repressive events,” they added.
They described the current level of journalist repression and media suppression as unprecedented in Bangladesh’s history and questioned whether such levels of repression exist anywhere in the democratic world.
The signatories include journalist Syed Badrul Ahsan (UK), litterateur Mukid Choudhury (UK), journalist and essayist Sujat Mansur (UK), journalists Ashequn Nabi Chowdhury, Syed Anas Pasha, and Mohammad Makis Mansur (UK), journalist Sabbir Khan (Sweden), rights activist Marjan Prodhan (Germany), blogger Azam Khan (Switzerland), scientist and author Nuran Nabi (USA), writer Salma Bani (Canada), journalists Shawgat Ali Sagar (Canada) and Fazlul Bari (Australia), and scientist Tariq Zaman (Australia).