Thursday, March 30, 2023
Asia Democracy Chronicles
Follow Us
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Features & Analysis
    • All
    • Articles
    • Commentary
    • Explanatory
    A host turns hostile

    A host turns hostile

    Deadly toilet troubles

    Thailand’s trillion-baht underground sex trade: challenges and a glimpse of hope

    Thailand’s trillion-baht underground sex trade: challenges and a glimpse of hope

    Myanmar’s new dark age

    Myanmar’s new dark age

    An uncivil move

    An uncivil move

    Six years on, residents remain displaced while new public buildings are empty in war-torn Marawi

    Six years on, residents remain displaced while new public buildings are empty in war-torn Marawi

    Giving up a forest for courts

    ‘Sham’ elections may spark more violence

    ‘Sham’ elections may spark more violence

    The Taliban’s war against women

    The Taliban’s war against women

  • Countries
    • NORTHEAST ASIA
      • China
        • Hong Kong
        • Macau
        • Tibet
      • Japan
      • Mongolia
      • North Korea
      • South Korea
      • Taiwan
    • SOUTH ASIA
      • Afghanistan
      • Bangladesh
      • India
      • Nepal
      • Pakistan
      • Sri Lanka
    • SOUTHEAST ASIA
      • Brunei
      • Cambodia
      • Indonesia
      • Laos
      • Malaysia
      • Myanmar
      • Philippines
      • Singapore
      • Thailand
      • Timor-Leste
      • Vietnam
    • GLOBAL / REGIONAL
  • Issues
    • Elections
    • Access to Education
    • Access to Health
    • Authoritarianism and Abuse of Power
    • Civil Liberties
    • Discrimination Against Covid-19 Patients and Specific Sectors
    • Gender-based Violence and Child Abuse
    • Governance
    • Labor and Migrant Workers’ Rights
    • Media Freedom – Issues
    • Movement and Migration
    • Privacy and Surveillance
    • Social Protection and Inclusion
      • Peace and Diplomacy
  • Democracy Digest
  • Asia Through The Lens
    • Northeast Asia
    • South Asia
    • Southeast Asia
    • Regional / Global
  • About
    • Pitch Us
  • Back to ADN
  • Home
  • Features & Analysis
    • All
    • Articles
    • Commentary
    • Explanatory
    A host turns hostile

    A host turns hostile

    Deadly toilet troubles

    Thailand’s trillion-baht underground sex trade: challenges and a glimpse of hope

    Thailand’s trillion-baht underground sex trade: challenges and a glimpse of hope

    Myanmar’s new dark age

    Myanmar’s new dark age

    An uncivil move

    An uncivil move

    Six years on, residents remain displaced while new public buildings are empty in war-torn Marawi

    Six years on, residents remain displaced while new public buildings are empty in war-torn Marawi

    Giving up a forest for courts

    ‘Sham’ elections may spark more violence

    ‘Sham’ elections may spark more violence

    The Taliban’s war against women

    The Taliban’s war against women

  • Countries
    • NORTHEAST ASIA
      • China
        • Hong Kong
        • Macau
        • Tibet
      • Japan
      • Mongolia
      • North Korea
      • South Korea
      • Taiwan
    • SOUTH ASIA
      • Afghanistan
      • Bangladesh
      • India
      • Nepal
      • Pakistan
      • Sri Lanka
    • SOUTHEAST ASIA
      • Brunei
      • Cambodia
      • Indonesia
      • Laos
      • Malaysia
      • Myanmar
      • Philippines
      • Singapore
      • Thailand
      • Timor-Leste
      • Vietnam
    • GLOBAL / REGIONAL
  • Issues
    • Elections
    • Access to Education
    • Access to Health
    • Authoritarianism and Abuse of Power
    • Civil Liberties
    • Discrimination Against Covid-19 Patients and Specific Sectors
    • Gender-based Violence and Child Abuse
    • Governance
    • Labor and Migrant Workers’ Rights
    • Media Freedom – Issues
    • Movement and Migration
    • Privacy and Surveillance
    • Social Protection and Inclusion
      • Peace and Diplomacy
  • Democracy Digest
  • Asia Through The Lens
    • Northeast Asia
    • South Asia
    • Southeast Asia
    • Regional / Global
  • About
    • Pitch Us
  • Back to ADN
No Result
View All Result
Asia Democracy Chronicles
No Result
View All Result
Home Statements

Bangladesh: Civil Society Groups Call on Government to Cease Harassment of Journalist Rozina Islam

CIVICUS joins other human rights organisations in calling for an immediate end to the harassment of Bangladeshi journalist and human rights defender Rozina Islam.

Asia Democracy ChroniclesbyAsia Democracy Chronicles
March 3, 2023
in Statements
Reading Time: 4 mins read
A A
0
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

2 March 2023

Mr. Asaduzzaman Khan, MP
Minister of Home Affairs
People’s Republic of Bangladesh
 
 
Mr. Zahid Maleque, MP
Minister of Health and Family Welfare
People’s Republic of Bangladesh
 
 
CC: Mr. Anisul Haq
Minister of Law, Justice, and Parliament
People’s Republic of Bangladesh
secretary@lawjusticediv.gov.bd
CC: Mr. A.K. Abdul Momen, MP
Minister of Foreign Affairs
People’s Republic of Bangladesh
 

Dear Ministers Khan and Maleque,

We, the undersigned press freedom and human rights groups, write to seek your leadership in ensuring an immediate end to the harassment of Bangladeshi journalist and human rights defender Rozina Islam. Islam faces an ongoing investigation under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act and the penal code in apparent retaliation for merely exercising her right to freedom of expression through her reporting on alleged government corruption and irregularities in the public health sector at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic. If formally charged and convicted under the Official Secrets Act, Islam faces up to 14 years in prison, or a death sentence. Islam was arbitrarily detained for seven days in May 2020, when a health ministry official filed the complaint accusing the journalist of taking photos of official documents in the ministry’s secretariat, leading to the ongoing investigation.

Since her release on bail, Islam has been routinely summoned for court appearances, many of which have been unduly delayed and rescheduled in violation of her right to a fair trial as guaranteed under Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Bangladesh is a state party. In August 2021, the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit asked banks to provide transaction details of any accounts held by Islam, in an apparent move to further intimidate the journalist.

Islam continues to face unlawful restrictions on her right to freedom of movement in violation of Article 12 of the ICCPR. She was granted bail on the condition that she surrender her passport, imposing an effective travel ban despite the fact that there is no provision for conditional bail in the Code of Criminal Procedure. In January 2022, a Dhaka court temporarily permitted the return of her passport for six months. Since then, however, Islam has been obliged to request her passport from the court whenever she plans to travel abroad.

After 14 months of investigation, the detective branch of the Dhaka police submitted its final report to court in July 2022, and called for the case against Islam to be dropped due to lack of evidence. Seven months later, in January 2023, the health ministry official filed a naraji (no-confidence) petition against the detective branch’s report, in response to which the court directed the Police Bureau of Investigation to further investigate Islam. We are deeply disturbed by a government official’s use of a naraji petition to prolong the investigation of a journalist under a national security law, particularly given that police have failed to produce a charge sheet or present any concrete evidence indicating that she has committed a crime.

Islam’s work, for which she received the United States Department of State’s Anti-Corruption Champions Award in 2022, is a public service, not a crime, and should be protected under Sections 4 and 5 of the Disclosure of Public Interest Information (Protection) Act.

We urge the authorities to fully respect and protect the human rights of journalist and human rights defender Rozina Islam, including her right to a fair trial, and to immediately cease all forms of judicial harassment against her, facilitating the return of her passport from judicial custody, and ensuring that she is not subjected to further retaliation for her work.

Signed:

  • Amnesty International
  • Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network
  • Capital Punishment Justice Project
  • Coalition For Women In Journalism
  • Committee to Protect Journalists
  • CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
  • Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma
  • Free Media Movement
  • Front Line Defenders
  • International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
  • International Federation of Journalists
  • International Women’s Media Foundation
  • Overseas Press Club of America
  • Pakistan Press Foundation
  • PEN America
  • PEN Bangladesh
  • PEN International
  • Reporters Without Borders
  • Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
  • South Asian Journalists Association
  • World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders

Source: https://www.civicus.org/index.php/media-resources/media-releases/open-letters/6279-bangladesh-civil-society-groups-call-on-government-to-cease-harassment-of-journalist-rozina-islam

Tags: BangladeshSouth AsiaStatement
Asia Democracy Chronicles

Asia Democracy Chronicles

Next Post
Green policies to rev up country’s economy in next five years – President

Green policies to rev up country’s economy in next five years - President

Experts urge govt to promote universal scholarship exams

Experts urge govt to promote universal scholarship exams

Govt increases number of protected forests to 177

Govt increases number of protected forests to 177

Features and Analysis

  • All
  • Special Feature
A host turns hostile
Afghanistan

A host turns hostile

byKanika Gupta
March 25, 2023
0

A s the circumstances deteriorate in Afghanistan, hundreds of Afghans – from government officials to activists and journalists, to members...

Read more
Pakistan

Deadly toilet troubles

byMuhammad Abbas Khaskheli
March 24, 2023
0

Pakistan’s devastating floods last year have worsened the water and sanitation problems particularly in the country’s rural areas.

Read more
Thailand’s trillion-baht underground sex trade: challenges and a glimpse of hope
Special Feature

Thailand’s trillion-baht underground sex trade: challenges and a glimpse of hope

byPaweena Ninbut
March 24, 2023
0

The illegal status of the sex industry in Thailand leaves loopholes for corruption, human rights abuse, and inequality, prompting calls...

Read more
Myanmar’s new dark age
Myanmar

Myanmar’s new dark age

byNay Soe Htet Aung
March 20, 2023
0

Myanmar’s battered economy flounders some more as power outages that began last year worsen.

Read more

Asia Democracy Chronicles

Pitch Us A Story

Have a story to tell, nuanced insights or expert analysis to share with a regional (i.e. Asia), even global, audience? Want to weigh in on specific issues afflicting humanity while the deadly virus rages on and wreaks havoc on our old ‘normal’? We’d love to hear from you.

We run features, op-eds, analyses, and other original contents that probe issues around human rights and civil liberties, and illuminate the challenges of democratic governance in Asia as states and societies cope with the Covid-19 pandemic. We cover Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia, and South Asia.

Yes, I’m Interested

Follow Us

Facebook Twitter RSS

Search

No Result
View All Result

© 2021 Asia Democracy Chronicles - Designed and Developed by Neitiviti Studios.

  • Home
  • Features & Analysis
  • Countries
  • Issues
  • Democracy Digest
  • Asia Through The Lens
  • About
  • Back to ADN

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Features & Analysis
  • Countries
    • NORTHEAST ASIA
      • China
      • Japan
      • Mongolia
      • North Korea
      • South Korea
      • Taiwan
    • SOUTH ASIA
      • Afghanistan
      • Bangladesh
      • India
      • Nepal
      • Pakistan
      • Sri Lanka
    • SOUTHEAST ASIA
      • Brunei
      • Cambodia
      • Indonesia
      • Laos
      • Malaysia
      • Myanmar
      • Philippines
      • Singapore
      • Thailand
      • Timor-Leste
      • Vietnam
    • GLOBAL / REGIONAL
  • Issues
    • Elections
    • Access to Education
    • Access to Health
    • Authoritarianism and Abuse of Power
    • Civil Liberties
    • Discrimination Against Covid-19 Patients and Specific Sectors
    • Gender-based Violence and Child Abuse
    • Governance
    • Labor and Migrant Workers’ Rights
    • Media Freedom – Issues
    • Movement and Migration
    • Privacy and Surveillance
    • Social Protection and Inclusion
      • Peace and Diplomacy
  • Democracy Digest
  • Asia Through The Lens
    • Northeast Asia
    • South Asia
    • Southeast Asia
    • Regional / Global
  • About
    • Pitch Us
  • Back to ADN

© 2022 Asia Democracy Chronicles - Designed and Developed by Neitiviti Studios.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In