Rozina walks out on bail, finally

Prothom Alo Senior Reporter Rozina Islam walked out of jail yesterday afternoon, seven days after she was arrested in a case filed by the health ministry.

She left Kashimpur Central Women's Jail in Gazipur at 4:18pm, where her family members and colleagues were waiting for her with floral garlands.

She met the outpouring of support with the words: "I will most certainly continue working as a journalist."

In the evening, she was taken to Square Hospital in the capital for a medical check-up.

Earlier, at 10:30am in the morning, the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Mohammad Baki Billah passed the bail order freeing Rozina Islam from prison and allowing her to fight the legal charges levelled at her without having to undergo detention.

She was granted ad-interim bail till July 15, the date of the next hearing of the case filed under the Official Secrets Act-1923 and Penal Code.

Magistrate Mohammad Baki Billah granted her bail on a bond of Tk 5,000 with two guarantors -- one of whom must be a lawyer, and the other a local guardian.

Her bail also came with the condition that she must surrender her passport.

Unlike last Thursday, the prosecution yesterday did not oppose Rozina's bail. "We have no objection to Rozina getting bail," said Public Prosecutor Abdullah Abu.

During the previous hearing, the prosecution had repeatedly insisted that Rozina should not be granted bail because she "stole" state secrets.

After delivering the order, Magistrate Billah also said, "It is the duty of journalists to protect the image of society and state. I hope that from now on, we will all act responsibly."

As a journalist, Rozina has uncovered corruption and won a multitude of national and international awards, including one presented by the Anti-Corruption Commission called "Media Award on Corruption Prevention in Bangladesh".

After the hearing on Thursday, Magistrate Billah had postponed making a decision about Rozina's bail till yesterday to give the prosecution more time to submit evidence.

The prosecution had said they would submit a leaked video to the court that was circulated by the Health Ministry Media Cell Facebook page the night before the journalist's bail hearing.

The seven-minute video shows ministry officials and on-duty police interrogating and manhandling the journalist. At one point during the interrogation, she said, "I made a mistake and I would be willing to give a written undertaking."

Although the plea for more time to submit the video had kept Rozina imprisoned over the weekend, Nizamuddin Fakir, general recording officer of Shahbagh Police Station, said no such evidence was given to the court.

Instead, the investigation officer (IO) of the case, Inspector Morshed Hossain Khan of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police's Detective Branch (DB), requested the court to grant him permission to conduct a forensic analysis of two cellphones that were seized from Rozina.

The nature of Rozina's work was such that it relied on government whistleblowers who she protected under the cloak of anonymity, and the upcoming forensic analysis raises questions about whether their identities would now be revealed.

For example, in one of the several videos leaked regarding the incident at the health ministry last Monday -- where Rozina was confined for more than five hours -- she insisted that she was invited into the room by a source, but refrained from divulging any identities.

Jyotirmoy Barua, one of Rozina's lawyers, said, "The investigators should make sure the privacy of Rozina's sources are not breached. They cannot communicate with the whistleblowers without permission from the court. It should be remembered that Section 5 of the Public-Interest Information Disclosure Act 2011 gives protection to Rozina's sources."

He added that they will approach the court with this matter to ensure that sources and whistleblowers are protected.