I was just the fool, says journalist David Bergman

Staff Correspondent: David Bergman, a British human rights activist and investigative journalist based in Bangladesh, recalled his Monday’s incident in the Appellate Division in Dhaka saying, “I was just the fool who took it out of his pocket.”

 

David Bergman came up with the comment on himself on his facebook wall after Justice Manik, one of the appellate court judges, forced him out of court as he entered into the court keeping his mobile phone with him on Monday.

 

Journalist Bergman entered into the court with mobile phone when the final verdict of Jamaat-e-Islami Assistant Secretary General Muhammad Kamaruzzaman was just delivered in the court.

 

Bergman wrote in his wall, “…And then my own personal drama. I had sat down just in front of the Mr Hannan (ICT chief investigator), Nasiruddin Yusuf, and Liberation War Museum trustee Mofidul Hoq, and after the short order was given, I said hello to each of them, and asked Mofidul a question about the order.”

 

“Then out of habit, I took my phone out of my pocket, and suddenly within a few second of it being in my hand, Justice Manik, one of the appellate court judges shouted at me for doing so, telling me that no phones were allowed in the court. I had been warned earlier, he said.” David Bergman read in his page.

 

I said `Your honour, I had not been warned earlier`. I was then told there was a notice outside the court. It was then intimated that I should leave the court. Oh dear. Things for me go from bad to worse. ... But I have to say, ICT Chief Investigator said to me just after I walked out, `What was that all about. I also had my mobile phone in my pocket`. Indeed, I think just about everybody had one in their pocket, since the guards were not checking at the door, and I am not sure many, or any, are aware of the notice, or abide by it, British man added.

 

“Anyway, I was just the fool who took it out of his pocket!!,” Bergman, who worked at the New Age, a Bangladesh national newspaper, wrote.

 

The journalist is known for his reportage on war crimes committed during the Bangladesh Liberation War. An investigative documentary on the subject he worked as a reporter and researcher for British television in 1995 won an award.

 

David Bergman, also son in-law of Gonoforum President Dr Kamal Hossain.

 

A four-member Appellate Division bench headed by Justice SK Sinha pronounced the verdict in response to an appeal petition filed by Kamaruzzaman, challenging the verdict of the tribunal.

 

risingbd/ DHAKA/Nov 3, 2014/Mahfuz/Augustin Sujan