Bangladeshi Journalist Arrested Under Terror Charges By Yunus Government

Bangladeshi journalist Anis Alamgir has been arrested by the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) in a case filed under the country's Anti-Terrorism law. An Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's court has since sent him to a five-day police remand.

Alamgir was picked up by the police after he left a gym on Sunday evening in the Dhanmondi-2 area of Dhaka and taken to the DMP's Detective Branch office.

Mohammad Ali Arafat, former Information Minister under ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, said, "Cases have been brought against four individuals, including journalist Anis Alamgir and actress Meher Afroz Shaon, under the Anti-Terrorism Act. This appears to be another effort to intimidate and suppress independent and progressive voices."

Arafat claimed the same law was previously used by Muhammad Yunus to ban the Awami League, and that Yunus has "since applied it broadly-targeting political parties as well as journalists, actors, academics, and others."

He added that Yunus's "systematic crackdown on secular political parties and progressive voices across media, culture, and academia points to an apparent strategy of appeasing radical Islamist groups." Arafat concluded that such actions "risk steering Bangladesh toward an Islamist state, a direction that stands in direct contradiction to the core ideals and foundations of the country's Liberation War."

A complaint under Bangladesh's Anti-Terror law was filed on Sunday at Dhaka city's Uttara West Police Station against Alamgir, actor Meher Afroz Shaon, model Maria Kishpatt, and media personality Imtu Ratish Imtiaz. The complainant in the case is Arian Ahmed, a central organiser of the July Revolutionary Alliance.

The complainant alleges that the named individuals have been propagating the rehabilitation of the Awami League, even though the party's activities are currently banned in Bangladesh. Anis Alamgir, who previously worked with Bangladesh Daily Ajker Kagoj, was known for his measured criticism of the Chief Advisor of the interim government, Muhammad Yunus.

Among the others named is actor Meher Afroz Shaon, who was previously arrested in February this year on charges of conspiring against the state. Shaon, who contested as an Awami League candidate in the last election, also had her family's home in Jamalpur attacked and set on fire in February.

Critics of the Muhammad Yunus government claim the arrest of Alamgir is a crackdown on the press in Bangladesh. The Editors' Council in Bangladesh has condemned the arrest.

The council noted that such actions "revive memories of state repression against journalists during past authoritarian regimes." The council also emphasised that if there are specific allegations against a journalist, those allegations must be addressed through the proper legal process and due process of justice.