Bangla journalist arrested under special powers act

IN Media Freedom | 13/04/2002

Bangla journalist arrested under special powers act

In a letter addressed to the Home Minister, Altaf Hossain Chowdhury, Reporters Without Borders (RSF Reporters sans Frontières) asks for the immediate release of journalist Shaharier Kabir, detained for "possessing inflammatory information which can jeopardise the stability of the country." RSF accuses the government of using an emergency law to imprison the journalist who was only reporting the situation of hundreds of Hindus suffering religious violence in Bangladesh. "This decision runs counter to your party`s recent electoral promises, which committed you not to use emergency laws against the press," declared Robert Ménard, RSF`s general secretary.

According to the information obtained by RSF, on 23 November 2001, a Dhaka court placed the independent journalist and documentary producer, Shaharier Kabir, in detention in accordance with the Special Powers Act of 1974. The day before, the journalist was questioned by the police for several hours at Dhaka international airport, when he arrived from Calcutta. The police chief asserted to the press that Shaharier Kabir was "in possession of inflammatory documents which can endanger the stability of the country". The police indeed seized his videotapes, his notes and his passport. The journalist had gone to India to cover the humanitarian situation at the Bangladesh border. Hundreds of Hindus, suffering religious violence mostly at the hands of supporters of the ruling parties, have taken refuge in India. A few days before his arrest, Shaharier Kabir was interviewed by the BBC and gave some details about the violence committed on Hindu civilians.

In accordance with the Special Powers Act of 1974, Shaharier Kabir may be detained for 90 days. More than two thousands people demonstrated in Dhaka on 23 November to demand his release.

Sharahier Kabir is a highly respected columnist in Bangladeshi liberal circles. He regularly writes for the daily Dainik Janakantha. He has published several investigative books notably about the war of independence in 1971 and the slaughters committed by the Pakistani army and its Bangladeshi allies. He also questioned Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jamaat-e-Islami leaders about these executions.

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