Photo: Collected

Newspaper Owners' Association of Bangladesh (Noab) has expressed dismay at the physical harassment of daily Prothom Alo senior reporter Rozina Islam at the secretariat and the handover of the journalist to police on Monday.

Rozina, who was on professional duty at the secretariat, was confined to a room for five hours and she suffered physical harassment and verbal intimidation with her mobile phones being searched, said a statement, signed by Noab President AK Azad and Vice-President ASM Shahidullah Khan (Badal).

"Noab observes that Rozina Islam is known for her honest investigative journalistic practices and that this might have irked a section of officials. There are specific ways and forums established by law to react to and contradict published reports.

"However, detaining a professional journalist, and that too a lady, for five hours to a closed room and haranguing her in the worst possible manner do not go well with the set standards of decency and press freedom," read the statement.

Noab, along with working journalists, has been trying hard to keep afloat newspaper-publication through investment, hard work and dedication in these trying times, it said.

However, incidents like the one experienced by Rozina would deter honest journalism and create a bad precedent, said the newspaper owners' platform.

Noab urged the authorities concerned to release Rozina unconditionally and bring those responsible for the incident to book.