Distinguished Professor Ali Riaz has published a commentary on the increasing persecution of journalists in Bangladesh in the Daily Star. In recent months, a number of cases have been filed against journalists. Samsuzzaman Shams, a reporter of the leading Bengali newspaper Prothom Alo was picked up by plainclothes police and remained incommunicado for more than 35 hours. He was later sent to jail. A case under a draconian Digital Security Act (DSA) was filed against him by a leader of the ruling Bangladesh Awami League.
Another case has been filed against the editor of the newspaper, acclaimed journalist Matiur Rahman. Riaz argued that incidents of being picked up by plainclothes state actors, denial of freedom of expression, torture, and deaths in custody have become commonplace because the country is being governed by imparting fear. He insists that coercion and intimidation are at the heart of the current system of governance. Riaz, who is now serving as a visiting researcher at the Varieties of Democracy Institute (V-Dem) at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden while on a sabbatical leave, said that there is no alternative to repealing the law under which Samsuzzaman and many others have been detained over the past years.
