Journalist Probir Shikder detained in Bangladesh for Facebook post on minister

5 Dariya News (Saifur Rahman Saif)

Dhaka (Bangladesh) 17-Aug-2015

Detective branch of the police arrested noted journalist Probir Shikder from his Indira Road based residence in Dhaka on Sunday for one of his Facebook posts in which he blamed Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperative minster Engineer Khandker Mosharraf Hossain and some others for making his life at risk.Mosharraf Hossain is also the father-in-law of the daughter of the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.Family sources said the Detective Branch men picked up the journalist from his residence after a case was lodged with Kotwali police station in Faridpur by the district’s Assistant Public Prosecutor (APP) Swapan Paul around 11pm on Sunday. 

Talking to a Bangladesh based news agency, Plaintiff Paul told that in a Facebook status the journalist wrote t that his life was in danger and blamed the state of insecurity on the minister. Sikdar said he went to the police to file a complaint over being threatened with death after writing a post on Facebook. He said in a post that police refused to register the General Diary.He wrote a post on Aug 10 titled, ‘Those who will be responsible for putting my life in danger or my death’, the news agency said. Journalists and people from different walks of life and his wife demanded immediate release of the journalist. The demand came from a rally held on the National Press Club premises on Monday.The Awami League government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has enacted several laws after ascending in power to repress journalists.  A number of journalists were detained for their writings, too.