CPJ Demands Freedom for Detained Bangladeshi Reporters

An influential global press rights body has appealed to Bangladesh to end the use of its International Crimes Tribunal against journalists. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is seeking the immediate release of Farzana Rupa and Mozammel Babu, who were ordered detained by the ICT on May 14. The court linked their arrests to coverage of the 2013 Shapla Chattar crackdown on Hifazat-e-Islam demonstrators. Prosecutors claim Rupa aired misleading statements after the operation, while Babu, then managing director of Ekattor TV, is accused of concealing casualty figures. Both reporters have been jailed since last year on unrelated homicide allegations. Rupa received conditional bail from the High Court in six matters on May 11, yet remains behind bars because of the ICT case. CPJ coordinator Kunal Majumdar condemned the criminalization of journalistic judgment, calling it a breach of Bangladesh’s constitution and international human-rights norms. The tribunal, created in 2010 for 1971 war-crimes trials, has been reformed under the Yunus-led interim administration and recently handed a death sentence to ex-Premier Sheikh Hasina.