Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- Journalist leaders have demanded arrest of ATN Bangla television Chairman Mahfuzur Rahman over the killing of journalist couple Sagor Sarwar and Meherun Runi.
Addressing a rally in front of National Press Club in the city, they urged all concerned to make pre-scheduled ‘gherao program’ at the offices of ATN Bangla and ATN News at 11 am on September 16.
Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ), Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ), National Press Club and Dhaka Reporters Unity jointly (DRU) organized the rally.
BFUJ Presidents Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury and Ruhul Amin Gazi, Secretary General Abdul Jalil Bhuiyan, acting Secretary General M Abdullah, DUJ President Omar Faruq and Abdus Shahid, General Secretaries Shaban Mahmud and Muhammad Baker Hossain, DRU President Shakhawat Hossain and General Secretary Sazzad Alam Khan Tapu addressed the rally.
Besides trial of the killings of Sagor-Runi and other journalists, the rally demanded payment of the dues of journalists sacked from different newspapers and television channels, stopping repression of journalists at workplace and ensuring their trade union rights and security while discharging professional duties.
Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury condemned Mahfuzur Rahman for filing a case against the journalists.
Filing of this case has united all media houses and made Mahfuzur Rahman an outcast, he said.
At the end of the rally, a special munajat was offered for eternal peace of the departed souls of Sagor and Runi who were killed at the Rajabazar residence in the capital Dhaka on February 11, 2012.
BBN/SSR/AD-12Sept12-9:40 am (BST)
