Journos at Shahbag Police Station demanding voluntary imprisonment

A group of journalists have declared to embrace voluntary imprisonment in protest against the arrest and harassment of Daily Prothom Alo senior journalist Rozina Islam.

Journalists of different media outlets appeared at Shahbagh police station with applications demanding voluntary imprisonment on Tuesday (May 18) afternoon.

They say the allegations brought against Rozina Islam can be made against any investigative journalist. This is because investigative journalists expose corruption through the collection of secret documents in the public interest.

The journalists who appeared at the police station with the applications for imprisonment were known as Badruddoza Babu, Milton Anwar, Mohim Mizan, Parvez Reza, Munzurul Karim, Abdullah Tuhin, Khan Mohammad Rumel, Apurba Alauddin, Abdullah Al Imran, Nayan Aditya, Muktadir Rashid Romeo, SM Nuruzzzaman, Shahnaz Sharmin, Kawsar Soheli.

In the letters to the officer-in-charge of Shahbagh police station, the journalists said that they were involved in investigative journalism.

For investigative journalism, the journalists need to collect many documents, and many of those were collected secretly, read the letters to the OC.
 
The journalists said that they had committed the same offences for which their fellow Rozina was prosecuted by the government and was sent to jail.

Shahbagh Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Mamunur Rashid could not be reached immediately for his comment over the issue on Tuesday (May 18) night.