The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson, Khaleda Zia, on Tuesday said showing Amar Desh editor Mahmudur Rahman arrested despite his bail granted by the High Court is tantamount to contempt of court.
Voicing deep concerns over keeping the editor “in continuous detention”, the former prime minister issued a statement to demand immediate release of Mahmudur Rahman.
“I strongly condemn the ill-effort to keep an editor in detention at any cost and strongly protest at the brazen repression on him,” read the statement signed by her press secretary Maruf Kamal Khan.
Khaleda, also the BNP-led 20-party alliance chief, alleged that the government has kept Mahmudur Rahman in detention showing him arrested in another case despite the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) commissioner’s recent instruction that none should be shown arrested any more.
“It (shown him arrested) is only aimed to mute his voice.”
Khaleda also warned the authorities concerned of dire consequences of tortures on journalists and of the move to gag the dissent voices.
“Despite getting the bail from the High Court, showing him [Mahmudur Rahman] arrested in another case is audacious and tantamount to contempt of court,” read the statement.
Khaleda alleged the current rulers have continued their steps against democracy and the freedom of expression and “completely illegally” stopped the publication of several newspapers and shut down several private television channels.
She was also critical of the government for its failures to try the killers of journalists. “The media is being intimidated and journalists are being harassed only to cover their misdeeds and isolation from the people,”
Source: Prothom Alo
