UN correspondent from New York, Oct 25 (Just News): Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, has said “UN would hope and expect that all members of the media be free to go about their work without harassment and would implore the authorities to respect the rights of the press.”
He came up with this comment in reply to a question on ongoing Bangladesh situation at the UN noon briefing on Thursday.
In the briefing Bangladeshi journalist and UN correspondent M Mushfiqul Fazal asked, “On Bangladesh, ahead of next election, ruling Government of Bangladesh trying to control opposition voices by any means as they posed a new dark law in the name of Digital Act. As you know, main opposition leader, Begum [Khaleda] Zia, internationally renowned photojournalist Shahidul Alam still is in jail with thousands of opposition prisoners. Last week, they arrested an English daily newspaper publisher, Barrister Mainul Hosein. He was adviser to the last nonparty caretaker government. Now he’s in torture cell. Does Secretary-General aware of this current situation of Bangladesh? And what is the UN position on Bangladesh right now?”
In reply Deputy Spokesperson Farhan said, “Well, regarding the case of this particular editor, of course, we would hope and expect that all members of the media be free to go about their work without harassment and would implore the authorities to respect the rights of the press.”
(Just News/ys/1400hr)
