(Media Watch/IFEX) – The following is a 24 November 2001 Media Watch press release: Writer, columnist arrested 24 November 2001 On 23 November 2001, after being detained for twenty hours, police confirmed that Sahrior Kabir, an eminent Bangladeshi writer, columnist and filmmaker, was arrested under Section 54 of the Criminal Procedure Code on charges of […]
(Media Watch/IFEX) – The following is a 24 November 2001 Media Watch press release:
Writer, columnist arrested
24 November 2001
On 23 November 2001, after being detained for twenty hours, police confirmed that Sahrior Kabir, an eminent Bangladeshi writer, columnist and filmmaker, was arrested under Section 54 of the Criminal Procedure Code on charges of involvement in anti-state activities. He was imprisoned at the Dhaka Central jail.
On the night of Thursday 22 November, Kabir was stopped by the police’s special branch (SB) at the Zia International Airport immigration desk upon his return from Calcutta, India and detained at the airport police station without any specific charges against him. He was imprisoned on the afternoon of 24 November, after appearing before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court. Airport police sought one month’s detention, but the magistrate sent him to jail pending a decision by the district magistrate. Airport police said: “Sahrior Kabir was arrested under Section 54 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The special branch of the police confined him on his arrival from Calcutta and he was kept in their custody. Police seized Kabir’s passport, five video cassettes, his camera and film and are examining those.”
When newsmen asked Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Moudud Ahmed under what law Kabir was arrested, the minister said that he did not know the case’s details.
Kabir went to Calcutta on 11 November and while there he gave an interview to BBC radio on the minority issue, in which he claimed that many Hindus (a religious minority in Bangladesh) have crossed over into India after recent incidents of attacks on minorities. Sources speculated that this has irked the government.
On 22 November, after being interrogated at the airport, Kabir was taken to the police’s SB headquarters at around 11:45 p.m., where he was interrogated for another couple of hours. He was kept at the SB office overnight. Sources said that he was questioned on different political issues, particularly the reasons for his trip to Calcutta and his comments on the atrocities against the minority in the country.
A number of people, including Kabir’s friends, relatives and family members, tried desperately to contact or meet him since his confinement at the airport, but nobody, including family members, was allowed to see him.
Eminent citizens and several civil society organisations condemn the arrest and harassment of Kabir. They demand his immediate release.
