The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on Bangladeshi authorities to drop a new crime against humanity case against journalists Shyamal Dutta, Mozammel Babu, and Farzana Rupa, and to stop “criminalising news reporting.”
The call follows an order on Monday by International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) directing prison authorities to produce three journalists, who have been detained since 2024 on separate charges, before the domestic war crimes court on 24 August.
Prosecutors allege that the journalists incited the suppression of student demonstrators during July uprising that ultimately ousted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
According to reports, prosecutors claim the journalists asked Hasina provocative questions at a press conference on 14 July 2024, which prompted her to make disparaging remarks about the demonstrators before launching a bloody crackdown.
Kunal Majumder, CPJ’s Asia-Pacific programme coordinator, strongly condemned the prosecution, “Launching a crimes-against-humanity case against journalists Shyamal Dutta, Mozammel Babu, and Farzana Rupa for simply asking questions at a press conference is outrageous and deeply troubling”.
He added that whilst editorial decisions may be partisan or ethically questionable, they cannot be criminalised, warning that criminalising editorial judgement sets a dangerous precedent and undermines Bangladesh’s reputation as a democracy.
The organisation has demanded that authorities immediately release the three journalists and drop the charges.
Babu, founder and former editor-in-chief of Ekattor TV, and Rupa, the channel’s former principal correspondent, were arrested in May this year in a separate ICT case concerning 2013 security crackdown on Hefajat-e-Islami activists at Shapla Chattar. They were named in a formal charge sheet on 27 July alongside Sheikh Hasina and 39 others.
Dutta, the editor of Bhorer Kagoj, has been detained since September 2024 and faces multiple murder cases in retaliation for his journalism.
If found guilty, the journalists could face the death penalty. The ICT, founded in 2010 under a 1973 law to try crimes committed during Liberation War, does not possess sentencing guidelines for specific offences.
During the tenure of Awami League government, Hasina used the tribunal to prosecute her political opponents.
Since the political transition of August 2024, the interim government and the new administration of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, who was sworn in on 17 February, have reconstituted the tribunal and amended the law to prosecute figures linked to Awami League government, including Hasina herself.
Bangladesh’s Ministry of Law and the Office of Chief Prosecutor did not reply to CPJ’s emailed requests for comment.
