ARTICLE 19, an international human rights organization is highly concerned about the suing and arresting of Prothom Alo's journalist Samsuzzaman Shams under the Digital Security Act (DSA) 2018.
Faruq Faisel, the regional director of ARTICLE 19 South Asia said that arresting journalist Samsuzzaman after suing him under DSA portrays a high concern for the safety of journalists and communicators in Bangladesh, said a press release.
Faruq Faisel further said: “Unfortunately, there is no law to protect journalists in Bangladesh. The increasing state of the abuse of DSA 2018 against journalists is reaching at an alarming stage.”
“It is high time to stop violence against journalists in Bangladesh by the abduction of journalists and misusing legal instruments”, he demanded.
On 26 March, a card was prepared with a photograph and a quotation of a day labourer Zakir Hossain was published in Prothom Alo online.
Though the card mentioned the name of day labourer Zakir Hossain below the quotation, a photograph of a child was mistakenly used there.
The discrepancy was noticed 17 minutes after publishing the post and it was removed immediately. Besides, the report was republished with necessary corrections and a note below the report regarding the corrections.
Nowhere in the report, it was said that the quotation is of the child; rather it was clearly stated that the quotation was of day labourer Zakir Hossain, reads the press release.
On Wednesday, a team of plainclothesmen, who identified themselves as members of the police's Criminal Investigation Department (CID), picked up the Prothom Alo staff correspondent Samsuzzaman at around 4am.
Two cases have been lodged against the journalist under the Digital Security Act (DSA) 2018; one with Ramna police station and another with Tejgaon police station.
After 30 hours of being picked up from his residence, the journalist was shown to be arrested in the cases and was produced before the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Court Dhaka on Thursday, reads the press release.
ARTICLE 19 demands action against those involved and to bring them under a proper investigation of the incident.
Furthermore, ARTICLE 19 calls for the government's attention to take immediate initiative so that no such unfortunate incident happens in future.
It is the government's responsibility to ensure the safety and protection of journalists and communicators in Bangladesh.
