(RSF/IFEX) – On 3 February 2003, RSF protested the continued police surveillance of freelance journalist Saleem Samad, who was recently released after spending 50 days in prison. The organisation called on Interior Minister Altaf Hossain Chowdhury to end the harassment against Samad and his family at once. Samad, who is also RSF’s correspondent in Bangladesh, […]
(RSF/IFEX) – On 3 February 2003, RSF protested the continued police surveillance of freelance journalist Saleem Samad, who was recently released after spending 50 days in prison. The organisation called on Interior Minister Altaf Hossain Chowdhury to end the harassment against Samad and his family at once.
Samad, who is also RSF’s correspondent in Bangladesh, said the police surveillance was probably a reaction to articles and interviews he had provided to the local and foreign media since his release from prison.
The organisation also called on the authorities to return the personal belongings that were confiscated from Samad when he was arrested on 29 November 2002, and drop charges against him and the British Channel 4 television journalists who were arrested with him.
Samad said his home in Dhaka’s Pallabi neighbourhood has been watched by police, his telephone has been tapped and his family has been regularly stopped by intelligence officials since his release on 18 January. During a book fair he attended on 2 February, he noticed that plainclothes police officers were trying to eavesdrop on his conversations.
Samad told RSF he feared the government was planning to accuse him of being involved in a conspiracy.
The journalist has written articles and given interviews to foreign media outlets in which he has described the torture to which he was subjected while in detention and criticising human rights violations in Bangladesh. He is also a correspondent for the Pakistani newspaper “Daily Times”.
Samad was only released conditionally and still faces trial for having worked with the Channel 4 team. His case file was sent to the Criminal Investigation Department on 3 December and his passport, identification papers, bank cards and notebooks have not been returned to him.
The government has also refused to grant entry visas to RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard and Asia-Pacific Desk head Vincent Brossel.
