Munni Saha accused of secretly recording PM

Journalist Munni Saha has been accused of secretly recording Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during a meeting in New York.

The Head of News of ATN News, a member of the Prime Minister’s entourage, however denied the allegation saying a security official merely asked for her video tape following orders from the Prime Minister’s Information Advisor Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury.

The incident took place during Hasina's interaction with journalists at the Grand Hyatt, New York, on Wednesday evening local time.

The Prime Minister is in New York to attend the 68th UN General Assembly (UNGA) session.

“Iqbal Sobhan was present when Munni Saha was speaking to the Prime Minister. When she came out of the room an SSF official took her recorder and deleted the content. Munni Saha left the scene saying sorry,” a witness who was also at the hotel at that time to meet the Prime Minister told bdnews24.com seeking anonymity.

Bangladesh’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations AKA Momen told bdnews24.com, “I was not there at the time of the incident. A member of the Prime Minister’s delegation informed me later. I think this is sad because there aren’t many media-friendly Prime Ministers like ours.”

Munni Saha told bdnews24.com, “I did not record anything secretly. A cameraman was with me. The interview was almost over when the Prime Minister took a break to drink some water when Iqbal Sobhan told me, ‘the entire discussion was on political matters. The South-South award did not come up at all…it is best not to broadcast the interview.’ A member of the SSF came forward asking for the tape, so I handed it to him.”

The Prime Minister took a 133- strong entourage with her to New York including several journalists.