Reporters who cover sports in Bangladesh have condemned the arrest of the investigative journalist, Rozina Islam of Prothom Alo, on Tuesday at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium and in Bangabandhu National Stadium.
She was arrested on Tuesday after being handed over to the police by the officials of Bangladesh Secretariat on Monday evening while performing her professional duties.
At Sher-e-Bangla Stadium stating, about a hundred reporters and multimedia journalists displayed a banner stating “Journalism is not a crime” and hashtag “FreeRozina”, “JustingForRozina”. And more journalists kept their cameras and booms on the athletic track of Bangabandhu National Stadium condemning Rozina’s arrest.
Shamsul Haque, a senior photojournalist of Prothom Alo, where Rozina works, said: “It was a shameful act to arrest a journalist for her professional duties. We want an immediate release of her.”
Noman Mohammad, a senior sports journalist, said it’s an unacceptable move by the authorities.
“Did she commit a criminal offence? It is her duty to collect as much information as possible to make a report worthy to go through. She was doing this job. So it’s unacceptable and unfortunate that Rozina Islam is arrested while performing her duty under a 98-year old law (Official Secrets Act 1923). I’m not sure how many times this law came to effect after the independence of Bangladesh,” Noman told UNB.
“And one more thing, the health ministry accused her of stealing secret documents. They should inform the people about the subject of the documents. Was she going to destroy the sovereignty of the country? Was she going to break the national security? People deserve to know what kind of secret document she was looking for,” Noman added.
He also said that it was not an isolated event to arrest Rozina. He believes Rozina was arrested for her continuous efforts to expose corruption in the health sector.
Rozina went to the Health Ministry to collect some documents on Monday for her professional works. But some officials of the ministry detained her for more than five hours. At one point Rozina fainted, but the official didn’t take her for treatment. They instead handed her over to the police.
She later was handed over to the police at Shahbag in the capital. She was produced to Dhaka’s Chief Metropolitan Magistrate court at little after 11am on Tuesday. The court denied a plea for remand and sent her to Kashimpur jail. The hearing of her bail appeal will take place on Thursday.