Reporters Without Borders (RSF), an international non-profit and non-government organisation headquartered in Paris, condemns the outrageous charges of crimes against humanity brought against at least 25 journalists in Bangladesh.
The RSF, which focuses on safeguarding the right to freedom of information, also urged the interim government to "halt the purging of journalists affiliated with the former government" and to immediately release them, reports The Daily Sun.
On August 29, no fewer than 25 journalists were charged with crimes against humanity for the death of a protester in July.
The list of journalists includes Farzana Rupa and Shakil Ahmed, who have already been charged with the murder of other demonstrators and are currently behind bars.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls for their immediate release and for these unfounded charges to be dropped. This systematic judicial harassment of journalists must end.
The complaint lodged on 29 August for crimes against humanity marks a new stage in the series of lawsuits targeting media professionals that have emerged over the past ten days.
This time, at least 25 journalists are targeted in a case examined by the International Crimes Tribunal, a special court set up in 1973 to judge abuses committed during Bangladesh's war of independence.
Farzana Rupa and Shakil Ahmed, the journalist couple recently dismissed from Ekattor TV, a TV channel deemed sympathetic to the former government, are among the media professionals named in the case, as is the recently ousted former Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina.
To date, they are the only journalists named in this case that are in detention. According to RSF's information, most of the media professionals named in the complaint have left their homes for fear of arrest.
"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 for vengeance that permeates this terrible legal cabal, which is hurting the image of the political transition underway in Bangladesh. The interim authorities, headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, must do everything in their power to end this vicious process. Farzana Rupa and Shakil Ahmed must be released immediately. All charges against journalists must be dropped.”
Bd pratidin English/Lutful Hoque
