Journalist and teacher Shahed Kamal is dead at 85

He has taught journalism at Dhaka University for over four decades

Journalist and teacher Shahed Kamal has passed away at the age of 85.

The eldest son of poet Sufia Kamal, he breathed his last at Dhaka's Zainul Haque Sikder Women's Medical College & Hospital on Saturday evening, his younger sister Sultana Kamal said.

Sultana, a human rights worker, told bdnews24.com: "My elder brother died a short while ago. My younger sister will announce the family's decision. I am in London."

Beginning his journalism career in 1957, Shahed worked for a long time at the state-run news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS). He had a brief stint at The Daily Star.

He also taught at Dhaka University's Department of Mass Communication and Journalism since 1976.

His younger sister Saida Kamal told bdnews24.com, "His body will be kept at Shajher Maya at Dhanmondi No. 32 today. It will be open for everyone to pay their last respects from [Sunday] morning.

"The funeral will be held at Taqwa Mosque in Dhanmondi at 1:45pm, after Zuhr prayers, and he will be laid to rest at the Azimpur graveyard beside our mother’s."