(RSF/IFEX) – On 29 November 2002, RSF strongly condemned the pre-dawn arrest of its correspondent, Saleem Samad, for having assisted two journalists working for British television’s Channel 4, who were themselves arrested on 25 November. There has been no news of Samad since his arrest at 3:00 a.m. (local time) on 29 November in Dhaka. […]
(RSF/IFEX) – On 29 November 2002, RSF strongly condemned the pre-dawn arrest of its correspondent, Saleem Samad, for having assisted two journalists working for British television’s Channel 4, who were themselves arrested on 25 November. There has been no news of Samad since his arrest at 3:00 a.m. (local time) on 29 November in Dhaka. Another journalist was arrested on 28 November in Chittagong for the same reason. At least six persons are currently detained in connection with the case.
“Reporters Without Borders is very disturbed by the arrest of its correspondent, who is an exceptionally professional journalist and a long-standing press freedom activist,” the organisation’s secretary-general, Robert Ménard, said in a letter to Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia. “We are calling on the international community, especially the European Union, to take a very firm position in favour of the release of these journalists,” Ménard said.
The organisation urged Prime Minister Zia to intervene to ensure that all six detainees are released and that the authorities, who are portraying them as “dangerous conspirators” without any supporting evidence, drop the charges of “sedition”.
The authorities have given no information about Samad since his arrest by plain-clothes police at the Dhaka home of a friend, but he is believed to be detained in one of the buildings of the Detective Branch in Dhaka. His arrest was made possible by the indiscriminate telephone tapping practiced by the police. His family, whose home was searched, had to go into hiding after receiving many threats. A police officer even threatened to arrest Samad’s son.
Sumi Khan, a correspondent for the weekly “Shaptahik 2000” in the south-eastern city of Chittagong, was also detained by police on 28 November for having met with the Channel 4 journalists, who were preparing a report on terrorism. Other journalists in Dhaka and the provinces have told RSF that they also fear they may be arrested for having met with the British TV crew.
The police have been obstructing justice ever since they arrested the Channel 4 crew, British reporter Zaiba Malik and Italian cameraman Bruno Sorrentino, together with their interpreter Pricilla Raj and their driver Mujib, as they were about to cross the border into India, near the eastern city of Benapole, on 25 November. The police have still not given lawyers or diplomats access to the journalists. A police officer who gave information to the press has been removed from the case. On 26 November, a Dhaka court ordered that the two foreign journalists be detained for five days.
