(RSF/IFEX) – The following is a 21 January 2002 RSF press release: Shahriar Kabir released on bail Reporters Without Borders (RSF) asks that journalist’s “sedition” indictment be lifted After spending two months in custody, journalist and human rights activist Shahriar Kabir was released on bail from the Dhaka prison on 20 January 2002. His release […]
(RSF/IFEX) – The following is a 21 January 2002 RSF press release:
Shahriar Kabir released on bail
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) asks that journalist’s “sedition” indictment be lifted
After spending two months in custody, journalist and human rights activist Shahriar Kabir was released on bail from the Dhaka prison on 20 January 2002. His release follows a 19 January decision by the High Court, which had demanded the release of the journalist, who was indicted on a “sedition” charge. The journalist obtained only a six-month temporary release on bail. The date for his trial has yet to be set. He still faces the death sentence or life imprisonment.
Dozens of people, including relatives, cheered him as he left the Dhaka central prison. His relatives were not authorised to visit him while he was in custody. The authorities did everything to delay his release, using a high official’s absence as an excuse to postpone it for several hours.
A few hours after leaving the prison, Shahriar Kabir declared that his release was “evidence that all citizens have a right to freedom of expression.” The journalist confirmed that he planned to continue his project of producing a documentary about recent violence targeting religious minorities in Bangladesh. Shahriar Kabir also said that he would “continue to fight against fundamentalist forces.” He thanked “all those who compaigned for [his] release.”
Reporters Without Borders (RSF- Reporters sans frontières) welcomes this release but deplores the fact that the “sedition” indictment against the journalist has yet to be lifted. Shahriar Kabir was held in custody for sixty days, in accordance with a special law, although he was only collecting information for journalistic purposes on the situation of Hindu refugees of Bangladeshi nationality in India. As long as all the accusations against the journalist are not abandoned, the organisation for the defence of press freedom will continue to mobilise on his behalf. On 21 January, the police announced that they would begin proceedings in efforts to reverse the journalist’s release on bail. According to them, he is involved in “anti-state activities.”
In December 2001, Reporters Without Borders met with the ambassador of Bangladesh in France to ask for the release of Shahriar Kabir. Known for his investigations into massacres during the independence war of 1971 and his fight against fundamentalism, the journalist is listed as a “prisoner of conscience” by Amnesty International.
Shahriar Kabir was arrested on 22 November 2001 at the Dhaka international airport as he was returning from Calcutta (India). The police seized his passport as well as five videocassettes, thirteen audio cassettes, three CDs, several non-developed films and his camera. On 9 December, the police lodged a complaint against the journalist, in accordance with Penal Code Articles 123 A (which penalises the condemnation of the state’s creation and support for the abolition of its sovereignty), 124 A (dealing with sedition) and 505 A (which protects against harm caused via the recourse to language or other means).
