A foreign ministry press release, issued on Saturday, stated that Prothom Alo journalist Shamsuzzaman was arrested on charge of ‘child abuse’ and ‘child exploitation.’
The release said, ‘It has been brought to the notice of the government of Bangladesh that few international media and institutions are claiming that a journalist in Bangladesh, named as Shamsuzzaman, has been arrested as he wrote about cost of living in Bangladesh. This information is totally false and fabricated. This journalist was arrested because of child abuse and child exploitation.’
‘Many media have been continuously reporting on the cost of living in Bangladesh since the beginning of the Ukraine War which has created global rise of cost of living. No one is arrested due to such reporting. Shamsuzzaman was arrested because of child abuse and child exploitation, as he offered Tk 10 to a nine-year old boy and then expressed his own views in the name of that child. That is surely an act of child abuse and exploitation. Secondly, he tried to undermine the independence of Bangladesh on the great Independence Day. These acts are surely tantamount to punishable crimes,’ it added.
‘The government of Bangladesh is committed to uphold freedom of expression for all its citizens and the media. However, creating social unrest by undertaking such fraudulent act is contrary to the spirit of honest journalism. The government of Bangladesh, as a party to the United Nations Convention on the Right of the Child, would not tolerate any such act of abusing children. The Government would also not accept any such effort aimed at maligning the great Independence Day of the nation,’ the press release said.
The case filed against the Prothom Alo reporter, and its editor Matiur Rahman among others, however, did not bring any allegations of child abuse. They are rather accused of publishing anti-state news report and tarnishing the image of the state in the case filed with Ramna police on Wednesday night.
