Bangladesh
Rozina Islam Arrest UN expresses concern about arrest and harassment of journalist Rozina Islam
New York, May 19: The United Nations has expressed concern over the arrest of Rozina Islam, a senior reporter of the daily Prothom Alo, after she was harassed at the Secretariat. Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, raised the concerns in response to a reporter's question about the arrest of journalist Rozina Islam at a regular UN briefing on Tuesday (May 18).
"News of the arrest of a journalist in Bangladesh has been published in various media outlets. The matter has come to our notice. It is clearly worrying. We are monitoring his arrest and the next steps," he said.
"Our position on harassment and arrest of journalists is very clear. Journalists cannot be harassed or physically abused in any way. We must ensure a free and independent working environment for them, be it in Bangladesh or anywhere else in the world," the spokesman said.
Dujarric added, "We have all observed the point that journalists around the world are working in the time of the global epidemic of coronavirus.
On Monday (May 18) at around 3 pm, Rozina Islam went to the Ministry of Health in the Secretariat to perform her professional duties. She was later kept hostage after official alleged that she took some important documents from the Health Secretary Lokman Hossain Miah's room. Her mobile was also confiscated.
At one point she fell ill there. Five and a half hours later, she was handed over to Shahbagh police. The photo and video footage of a woman holding Rozina's throat in that room has gone viral. The whole incident kicked a storm on social media.
A case was filed against Rozina at Shahbagh police station under the 'Theft and Official Secrets' Act. Rozina was taken to court in the morning and remanded for five days. On the other hand, her lawyer applied for bail which the court denied and remanded and ordered her to be sent to jail.
