Journos again demand Mahfuzur's quizzing
Leaders of different journalists' organisations yesterday again demanded that investigators interrogate Mahfuzur Rahman, chairman of ATN Bangla, as he had made derogatory remarks about the murdered journalist couple Sagar-Runi.
They made the demand during a human chain programme before the Jatiya Press Club organised to protest the killing of journalist Jamal Uddin in Jessore and press home the demand for interrogating the ATN Bangla chief. Jamal Uddin, a journalist of Jessore-based newspaper Gramer Kagoj, was hacked to death at Sharsha upazila allegedly for reporting on a local drug-smuggling syndicate.
ATN Bangla chief Mahfuzur Rahman in London recently said, "Sagar and Runi were victims of an extra-marital affair.” He also claimed that he had footage relating to the motive of the murders.
Meanwhile, Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, president of Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists, yesterday declared that another human chain would be formed at the Jatiya Press Club on Sunday to press home their demand.
They would also bring out a rally which would head towards the Prime Minister's Office and submit a memorandum to the prime minister demanding the arrest and trial of the killers of all journalists and a guarantee for journalists' security.
The leaders also demanded that Mahfuzur Rahman show the evidence to prove his allegations against Sagar and Runi.
The president of another faction of Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists, Ruhul Amin Gazi, said the journalists had become victims in their own homes and the criminals and the law enforcement agencies were torturing the journalists outside their homes and this could not be tolerated.
He said Mahfuzur Rahman must be arrested as he claimed that he had “footage” on the motive of the double murder.
Sagar Sarowar, news editor of the private TV station Maasranga, and his wife Meherun Runi, a senior reporter at ATN Bangla, were murdered in their flat in the capital's West Rajabazar on February 11.
Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists Secretary General Abdul Jalil Bhuiyan, Dhaka Union of Journalists presidents Abdus Shahid and Omar Faruque, general secretaries Muhammad Baker Hossain and Shaban Mahmud, Dhaka Reporters Unity President Shakhawat Hossain and General Secretary Sazzad Alam Khan Topu also spoke at the human chain.
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