New Delhi: The Commonwealth Journalists Association (CJA) has expressed shock over the arrest of Bangladeshi newspaper editor Shyamal Dutta as well as CJA vice president and two of his colleagues on September 15.

The Bhorer Kagoj editor and others have been charged with murder by Bangladesh police. Calling these charges "spurious", the journalists body said this would allow the police to exercise certain powers that they would not have been able to do with less serious charges.

Shyamal is currently on court-ordered remand for seven days during which police are free to interrogate him. 

CJA said that Shyamal’s arrest was part of a larger witch hunt against Bangladeshi journalists who have been targeted for carrying out their professional duties. 

“We consider this wave of killings, violent attacks, acts of intimidation and arrests to be a grave indictment of the state of legitimate media freedoms in Bangladesh,” the statement said, adding that at least five journalists have been killed in the last seven weeks while many others are in hiding.

The journalists body called on nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus, who is leading the interim government of Bangladesh, “to ensure that Dutta and other arrested journalists are immediately released without being maltreated or victimised, and these trumped up charges against them dropped.”

“We also urge the interim government to demonstrate its commitment to press freedom by ensuring that all journalists and media outlets can operate without fear of persecution for their journalistic activities, either currently or under the previous government, the statement, signed by the executive committee of the CJA, said.

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