Journo leaders worried over police bid for remand of 5

Journalist leaders yesterday expressed concern at a petition filed by police for remand of four journalists and an employee of Bangla daily Amar Desh.
The remand petition has been filed with the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's (CMM) court in a case filed on charges of assaulting the policemen who went to arrest the daily's acting editor Mahmudur Rahman two years ago.
In a joint statement, the journalist leaders also demanded withdrawal of the case.
They said the move for remand is an incident of repression and harassment as the five have secured bail from the High Court and the CMM court.
The five are Amar Desh Executive Editor and Jatiya Press Club General Secretary Syed Abdal Ahmad, News Editor Jahed Chowdhury, Chief Assistant Editor Sanjeeb Chowdhury, senior staff reporter Alauddin Arif and office assistant Saiful Islam.
Police lodged the case on June 2, 2010, against some 400 journalists and employees of the daily.
The signatories to the statement included Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury and Ruhul Amin Gazi, presidents of two factions of Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists; Abdul Jalil Bhuiyan and Shawkat Mahmud, BFUJ secretary generals; Omar Faruque and Abdus Shahid, presidents of Dhaka Union of Journalists; and Shaban Mahmud and Muhammad Baker Hossain, DUJ general secretaries.