Int’l rights groups seek withdrawal of ICT probe against journos

Five leading international human rights and press freedom organisations have urged the Bangladesh government to withdraw the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) investigation against detained journalists Farzana Rupa and Mozammel Babu, warning that prosecuting journalists over disputed reporting as crimes against humanity poses a serious threat to press freedom.

In a joint statement issued on Wednesday, Amnesty International, ARTICLE 19, CIVICUS, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on the authorities to ensure journalists are not subjected to criminal prosecution�"particularly on charges of crimes against humanity�"for carrying out their professional duties.

The organisations said the ICT formally showed Rupa and Babu arrested in the case on May 14. Prosecutors allege that their television coverage of the May 2013 security operation against Hefazat-e-Islam at Dhaka's Shapla Chattar broadcast misleading information about the number of casualties. 

The rights groups argued that editorial decisions and reporting on contested political events are protected under the right to freedom of expression and should not be criminalised. They said there is no legal basis for treating disputed journalistic coverage as crimes against humanity and warned that such prosecutions could have a chilling effect on independent media.

The statement noted that Rupa, Babu, Ekattor TV journalist Shakil Ahmed and Bhorer Kagoj Editor Shyamal Dutta have remained in pre-trial detention since August and September 2024 after being arrested in multiple murder cases filed over deaths during the July-August 2024 mass uprising that led to the fall of the Awami League government.