Rights groups have called on Bangladesh govenment to “stop harassing” Prothom Alo senior reporter Rozina Islam in a public letter issued on Sunday.
The public letter was sent to Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, and Health Minister Zahid Maleque keeping Law Minister Anisul Haq, and Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen in the CC list.
The letter was published on the website of Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), and it reads: “We, the undersigned press freedom and human rights groups, write to seek your leadership in ensuring an immediate end to the harassment of Bangladeshi journalist and human rights defender Rozina Islam.”
Terming Rozina's work not as crime but public service, the letter also stated that she (Rozina) received the United States Department of State’s Anti-Corruption Champions Award in 2022.
The organizations that signed the public letter include Amnesty International, Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network, Capital Punishment Justice Project, Coalition For Women In Journalism, Committee to Protect Journalists, CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma Free Media Movement, Front Line Defenders, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), International Federation of Journalists, International Women’s Media Foundation, Overseas Press Club of America, Pakistan Press Foundation, PEN America, PEN Bangladesh, PEN International, Reporters Without Borders, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, South Asian Journalists Association, and World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT).
