Amnesty International has expressed its concern about the detention of Prothom Alosenior journalist Rozina Islam on allegations of stealing confidential official documents.
Amnesty International’s South Asia Campaigner, Saad Hammadi, in a statement issued on Wednesday also demanded Rozina’s immediate release.
“The prosecution of Rozina Islam under the Official Secrets Act is a brazen attack on the right to freedom of expression and the ability of Bangladeshi society to seek and receive information,” the statement read.
“How the public health sector operates during the pandemic is of critical public interest. Rozina Islam has exposed irregularities in Bangladesh’s health sector for the past few months during the COVID-19 pandemic and her arrest points to an increasing trend of a wider crackdown on freedom of expression through draconian laws to silence critical or dissenting views,” Hammadi added.
Rozina was arrested for allegedly attempting to illegally ‘collect sensitive government documents and taking photos of them’ from the secretariat on Monday.
Amnesty International previously expressed concern over the increasing crackdown on the right to freedom of expression in Bangladesh and has called on the government to drop charges against all those accused or detained solely for exercising their right to freedom of expression and to repeal or amend laws in line with the country’s human rights obligations.
