Bangladesh tribunal orders 3 journalists held until trial in 2024 uprising case

The Special Tribunal in Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka, has ordered the detention of three journalists until their trial in the case related to a mass uprising that led to the removal of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from power in 2024, according to lawyers. The three journalists questioned by the tribunal are Mozammel Babu, the editor-in-chief of Ekattor Television, Farzana Rupa, the principal correspondent for the network, and Shyamal Dutta, editor of the daily Bhorer Kagoj and former general secretary of the National Press Club in Dhaka.

The judge set October 25 as the date for the next court proceedings and instructed the investigators to submit their findings against the journalists. Human rights organizations have criticized the arrest of the journalists and the denial of bail, urging the government to drop the charges against them and halt the criminalization of journalism.

Prosecutors claim that the journalists incited the suppression of student demonstrators during the uprising by asking Hasina provocative questions during a press conference on July 14, 2024, which led to her making disparaging remarks about the demonstrators, resulting in a violent crackdown and hundreds of deaths. The journalists have been in custody since Hasina's ouster and face charges of murder related to the uprising in July-August 2024.

They were arrested during an interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, who transferred power to a new government in February. The journalists' families have accused authorities of holding them illegally.