BFUJ demands punishment for people who pressured bdnews24.com

Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists or BFUJ has demanded punitive action against the people who pressured bdnews24.com to take down old reports.

The pressure from the “evil forces” will not only call into question the government’s sincerity to establish independent media, but it will also hamper the government effort to strengthen democracy, BFUJ President Molla Jalal and Acting Secretary General Abdul Majid said in a statement on Wednesday.

Toufique Imrose Khalidi, editor-in-chief of bdnews24.com, spoke extensively at a press conference on Feb 18 on “bizarre” attempts to muffle journalism by the influential people.

bdnews24.com said it had published news on court proceedings and orders in cases filed against valiant freedom fighter HBM Iqbal, chairman of Premier Group and a former MP, and members of his family in the past one and a half decades as had other mainstream media.

bdnews24.com also covered the news of acquittal of Iqbal and his family members of the charges.

But it received 36 legal notices from 24 districts as of Tuesday. The language, statements and demands in the notices, sent under different names, are identical.

The main point of the legal notices is that the reports on Iqbal and his family should be removed as all of them have been acquitted in the cases—a demand that bdnews24.com finds “illogical”, “unreasonable” and “absurd”

BFUJ demanded that the relevant government authorities identify the people who pressured bdnews24.com to take down the old reports and take punitive action against them.

The union also expressed “grave concern” over physical torture and killings of, and death threats to journalists.

It demanded fair trial into the killing of Burhan Uddin Mujakker, a correspondent of the daily Bangladesh Samachar, during clashes between Awami League factions in Noakhali’s Companyganj and punishment of those involved in the murder.

The BFUJ leaders said they were surprised to see no one arrested around a month after death threats to Boishakhi TV’s Chief News Editor Saiful Islam and reporter Kazi Farid after publication of news on alleged corruption at National University.