Journalists on hunger strike

Journalists are staging a token hunger strike on Thursday to mount pressure on authorities to identify, arrest and try the killers of journalist couple Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Runi.

bdnews24.com
Published : 1 March 2012, 01:07 AM
Updated : 1 March 2012, 01:07 AM
Dhaka, Mar 1 (bdnews24.com) —Journalists are staging a token hunger strike on Thursday to mount pressure on authorities to identify, arrest and try the killers of journalist couple Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Runi.
The strike which is taking place at the National Press Club premises in the capital began at 10am and would continue until 4pm as per a previous announcement. Journalists across the country are also staging the same programme.
Thursday's programme follows their Feb 21 one-hour strike as police are yet to identify or arrest anyone in the case even 19 days after the brutal murders. Journalists have also threatened to declare further programmes after this strike.
Journalists from all media outlets are taking part in the protest programme called by four journalist organisations — Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ), Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ), National Press Club and Dhaka Reporters' Unity (DRU).
Presidents of two BFUJ factions, Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury and Ruhul Amin Gazi, president of a faction of DUJ Abdus Shahid, general secretary of the other DUJ faction Shaban Mahmud, DRU president Sakhawat Hossain Badshah and general secretary Sazzad Alam Khan Tapu are attending the programme along with other journalists.
Announcing the work abstention and hunger strike from a rally on Feb 22, Sobhan Chowdhury had threatened to declare bigger protest programmes if the assailants were not arrested even after that.
On Feb 11, Maasranga Television news editor Golam Mostofa Sarowar, alias Sagar Sarowar, and his wife, ATN Bangla senior reporter Meherun Nahar Runi, were found murdered at their rented flat in the city's west Rajabazar.
Police are yet to arrest anyone or name any suspect over the murder.
On Sunday, the investigators said they are 'almost certain' about the motive behind the killings of the journalist couple but cannot disclose it for the sake of the investigation.
The High Court on Tuesday ordered the information secretary to take steps within 24 hours to stop publishing 'flimsy' news on the issue. It also directed police not to comment on the print and electronic media unless the investigation made specific progress.
Journalist organisations, however, expressed frustration over the court's directive. In a statement on Wednesday, they said the order that High Court had passed on the information secretary will create the possibility of imposing censorship on the mass media.
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