Free Enamul, allow legal protection

The Overseas Correspondents Association Bangladesh (OCAB) yesterday urged the authorities to free journalist Enamul Haque Chowdhury from detention and allow the legal protection he is entitled to under the laws of the land.

In a written statement, OCAB President Golam Tahaboor and General Secretary Shamim Ahmed yesterday said Enamul Haque Chowdhury, a stringer of Reuters Bureau in Dhaka and a former member of OCAB has been in detention since December 13 without any charges against him.

Urging his immediate release the leaders said," The authorities must remember the fact that a man or woman is considered innocent until proven guilty".

The leaders expressed deep concern at some recent events involving both local and foreign media in the country and the resulting uneasy situation between a section of the media and the government.

They called upon all concerned to exercise more restraint and tolerance in discharging their respective duties. They also asked all to refrain from any action or statement that might strain the working relations between Bangladeshi authorities and particularly those representing international media in Bangladesh.