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Bangladesh Police Arrest Foreign Journalists, Charge Them with Sedition
By
IOL
South Asia
Correspondent
NEW
DELHI, November 29 (IslamOnline) - Bangladesh police arrested three
journalists, and charged them with sedition or “anti-Bangladesh
activities” and the concealment of their real identities, news
agencies reported Thursday, November 28.
Two
of those arrested — Zaiba Naz Malik and Lio Poldo Bruno Sorrentino
— were on the assignment to shoot a documentary on
Bangladesh
, and were working for a British production company, Mentorn Midlands,
commissioned by Channel 4 to make a film for its Unreported World
foreign affairs series about the country’s political situation.
The
third one to be arrested, along with Malik and Sorrentino, was a local
journalist and NGO activist Moniza Priscilla Raj, who worked for them
as guide and interpreter. Priscilla, who was taken aback on her
arrest, said that she worked as interpreter for them only for two
days, but was still unaware about their motive to conceal their real
identities.
Malik
and Sorrentino were arrested while they were attempting to cross over
to the Indian state of
West Bengal
through the Benapole border, while Priscilla was arrested in Rajbari
when she was on her way to
Dhaka
from Benapole after seeing the duo off.
According
to reports, one Didarul Islam of Mohakhali area in the
Dhaka
city, filed the case against the two foreigners and two Bangladeshi
nationals, Priscilla Raj and journalist Selim Samad, under Sections
120(B)/ 505(A)/ 419 of Penal Code and Section 14 of the Foreigners
Act. Three of them already were arrested, while arrest warrant has
been issued against journalist Samad.
The
police said that the two foreigners were charged with subversive
activities and violation of Foreigners' Act. The two journalists came
to
Bangladesh
on November 6 after furnishing false identity in the immigration
arrival card. They identified themselves as Zaiba Makhi from
Britain
and Leo Taratino from
Italy
, whereas their real names were something else, the police claimed.
Not only this, instead of identifying themselves as journalists they
told the Benapole police that they were teachers and were visiting
Bangladesh
on tourist visas.
Bangladesh
Detective Branch (DB) authorities said that the police confiscated
their passports, a video camera, 10 video cassettes and some other
objectionable documents.
The
police are informed that the two journalists went to the house of the
slain college principal Gopal Krishna Muhuri in
Chittagong
and interviewed his relatives. They also visited Cox’s Bazar, Ukhia,
Kutubkhali, Khagrachhari, Manikchhari and other places of the country
and gathered information about mosques and madrasas by talking to a
cross-section of people.
The
police further said that the two journalists were trying to project
the present ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-Jamaat-e-Islami
alliance government as anti-minority (Hindus). They were also trying
to establish the presence of the Taliban and Al Qaeda network in
Bangladesh
and thus tarnish the image of the country and destroy communal
harmony. “They were trying to smuggle the video cassettes and
documents out with the malicious intent to portray
Bangladesh
as a fundamentalist Islamic country,” a senior police official was
quoted as saying.
DB
inspector Mizanur Rahman said, They showed fake ID cards to the
immigration officials on arrival at
Zia
International
Airport
on November 6. They interviewed and took video footage of one Habibur
Rahman at the North Gate of Baitul Mokarram on November 15.
The
two journalists and their local guide also visited Cox’s Bazar,
Kutubkhali of Ukhia and Manikchhari of Khagrachhari and collected
various information. They also met some religious devotees of the
areas and recorded their information tactfully. Their motive was to
give a distorted image of the present political, social and religious
situation in
Bangladesh
and to portray the religious devotees as fundamentalists like the
Taliban and Al Qaeda to the foreign media, Mizanur Rahman added.
All
the three arrested have been remanded to police custody for five days
after being produced in a
Dhaka
court. If convicted of anti-government activities, the journalists
could be charged with a life term.
Meanwhile,
the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has intervened to plead for
the two journalists. BBC head of current affairs Peter Horrocks wrote
to the Bangladeshi High Commission. “I write to express the concern
of BBC Current Affairs at the arrest of film makers Zaiba Malik and
Bruno Sorrentino in your country. These two journalists are well known
to the BBC. They have worked on a number of important programs for the
BBC, including Panorama and Correspondent. We know them to be
journalists of high integrity, who would only conduct their journalism
in a professional and objective manner. We call on your courts to
respect their rights as film makers and we are confident they would
not break the laws of any country."
The
international press watchdog Reporters Sans Frontiers has also
condemned the arrests as a “serious attack on press freedom” and
has demanded that the legal proceedings against the journalists be
dropped immediately.
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