Voicing concern over showing Amar Desh acting editor Mahmudur Rahman arrested in a fresh case, BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia on Tuesday said the move was taken to gag his voice.
In a statement, she also warned of bad consequences of the ‘evil efforts’ to repress journalists and suppress dissent opinions.”Despite a recent order of the police commissioner of Dhaka not to show anyone arrested, he (Mahmudur) was kept in jail showing him arrested only to continue repression on him and gag his voice,” Khaleda said.
“I’m concerned to know that Mahmudur Rahman was shown arrested in a fresh case and remand prayer was filed to grill him. I strongly protest such heinous and brazen repression. I also condemn the evil efforts to keep a brave editor in jail,” she observed.
Khaleda also said, after getting bail from the Supreme Court in the last case, showing Mahmudur arrested in a new case is ‘tantamount to audacity and the contempt of court’. She urged the government to shun its all evil efforts and immediately release all arrested journalists, including Mahmudur Rahman and Shawkat Mahmud. “I also demand repression and harassment of journalists be stopped.” The BNP chief alleged that the government is harassing journalists through intimidating and attacking them and filing cases against them to hush up its misdeeds and isolation from people. A day after the apex court granted him bail in an ICT case, Mahmudur Rahman was shown arrested on Monday in a fresh bomb blast case filed with Shahbagh Police Station in 2013. Shahbagh Police Station sub-inspector Harun-or-Rashid also submitted a prayer seeking a seven-day remand before Metropolitan Magistrate Golam Nabi’s court. The court fixed February 22 for hearing on the remand plea.
