TV journos allegedly assaulted at Hefazat rally

Three broadcast journalists of two private television channels allegedly came under assault on Friday, while discharging their professional duties during a rally of Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh. The radical Islamist group organised the rally at the city’s Laldigi Maidan to press home its demand for Myanmar to take back the forcefully displaced Rohingya who have fled to Bangladesh since August 25, to escape military persecution in their homeland - the Rakhine state. The journalists who came under assault were identified as Channel 24 cameraperson Selim Ullah, Channel 24 reporter Zubayer Manjur, and Saiful Islam, cameraperson of Banglavision. Latefa Runa, joint secretary of the TV Journalists’ Association, Chittagong, told the Dhaka Tribune that the members of Hefazat took away the microphone and damaged the camera that was with the Channel 24 crew. “We condemn this heinous attack on the journalists and demand the attackers be brought to book without delay,” added Runa. Safique Ahmed Sajib, president of the TV Camera Journalists’ Association, said that the three TV journalists came under attack while covering the rally of Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh. “A TV camera was damaged and microphone was snatched away during the assault. Legal measures should be taken against the attackers,” demanded Sajib. Victim Saiful Islam told the Dhaka Tribune that Harun Izhar became angry as his father, Hefazat-e-Islam senior leader Izharul Islam, did not get the chance to speak at the rally. “At one stage of the rally, the followers of Harun Izhar locked into an altercation with some of the leaders who were on the stage. We came under assault when we were filming the altercation between the Hefazat leaders,” said Saiful. When contacted, Azizul Haque Islamabadi, central organizing secretary of Hefazat-e-Islam, told the Dhaka Tribune that he came to know of the incident after the end of the rally. “I left the venue of the rally before the incident happened. This was not deliberate and we are really sorry for the unacceptable incident,” added the Hefazat leader.