C T Online Desk: Protests against the filing of a case under the Digital Security Act against Prothom Alo editor Matiur Rahman and sending the daily’s Savar correspondent to jail after his arrest continued on Friday in different parts of the country.
Politicians, teachers, researchers, journalists, and social activists held human chains in Chattogram, Cox’s Bazar, and Takhurgaon while students at Jahangirnagar University staged demonstrations and blocked the Dhaka-Aricha highway in protest against the arrest of their fellow Samsuzzaman Shams, the Savar correspondent of Prothom Alo.
United Nations human rights commissioner Volker Turk on Friday called on Bangladesh to suspend immediately the application of the Digital Security Act.
Prothom Alo editor and publisher Matiur Rahman was prosecuted, and the daily’s Savar correspondent Samsuzzaman was sent to jail on Thursday in one of the two cases filed under the Digital Security Act over a report on high food prices on March 26.
The journalist, Samsuzzaman, was picked up by a group of plainclothes people introducing themselves as members of the Criminal Investigation Department from his rented house in Savar on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka at about 4:00am on Wednesday.
He was picked up around two hours after a case under the DSA was filed by an Awami Juba League leader with the Tejgaon police station around 2:15am.
His whereabouts were unknown until he was produced before a court on Thursday around 10:00am.
New Age Jahangirnagar University correspondent reported that the university students on Friday noon blocked the Dhaka-Aricha highway, demanding the immediate release of journalist Samsuzzaman and the scrapping of the DSA.
Under the banner of ‘Jahangirnagar University Students’ more than a hundred students started a procession at about 2:30pm from the university’s Murad Chattar area, and blocked both lanes of the highway for about an hour, leaving heavy tailback on both sides.
‘When people want to tell about their sufferings, the state tries to muzzle them,’ said economics department student Prapti Taposhi during the demonstration.
An archaeology department student, Sudipta Dey, said that it was a ‘shame for the state’ that it failed to ensure the freedom of the press and freedom of speech in 50 years of independence.
In Chattogram, the Bangladesh Chhatra Union held a human chain in the Pahartali area to protest against the filing of cases and demand the scrapping of DSA.
They also condemned the picking up of a journalist in the middle of the night and demanded the immediate release of journalist Samsuzzaman.
In Cox’s Bazar, local journalists formed a human chain at Old Shaheed Minar, covering their mouths with black cloth.
The journalists also demanded the unconditional release of Samsuzzaman while demanding the repeal of DSA.
In Jashore, Prothom Alo Bandhu Shova held a human chain protest, demanding the scrapping of DSA and the release of the journalist.
New Age correspondent in Thakurgaon reported that local journalists formed a human chain on Friday and said DSA had become the main obstruction to doing free journalism.
The Communist Party’s Takurgaon district unit secretary Ahsan Habib Babu said the price of essential items was spiking, and the journalist was arrested for reporting the matter.
Expatriate Bangladeshi teachers, researchers, and journalists in the United States demanded the repeal of DSA and called for the release of the journalist.
Prothom Alo reported on Wednesday that their online section made an online news card on March 26, quoting day labourer Zakir Hossain.
The report quoted the day labourer saying, ‘What will I do with independence if I can’t afford food? [I] sweat it out in the kitchen market. We need the independence of rice, fish and meat.’
It said that the quote was correct but mistakenly a photo of a minor boy was uploaded with it. The daily reported that when they noticed, the card was withdrawn and necessary corrections were made to the news item.
New Age correspondent in Gazipur reported that Samsuzzaman was transferred to Kashimpur Central Jail from Dhaka Central Jail on Friday.
Sammilito Peshabiji Parishad, a platform of pro-opposition professionals, meanwhile, visited the family members of Samsuzzaman on Friday and expressed their solidarity with his mother, Karimunnessa.
The convener of the platform, AZM Zahid Hossain, and other senior leaders were present.
Bangladesh Chhatra League Jahangirnagar University unit, however, burned an effigy of Prothom Alo editor Matiur Rahman on Friday, alleging that the paper was spreading anti-state propaganda.
