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Dhaka: A Bangladesh court on Wednesday jailed the editor of the mouthpiece of the opposition BNP of ex-premier Khaleda Zia, following a night long siege at its office after the newspaper was proscribed by the government.
Earlier today, the Bangladesh police arrested the editor, Mahmudur Rahman of BNP mouthpiece Amar Desh.
"Police stormed the newspaper office early this morning and arrested our acting editor Mahmudur Rahman," chief reporter of the daily Syed Abdal Ahmed told agency.
Witnesses and reports said police was trying to arrest Rahman but were held out by the journalists and staff of the newspaper since shortly before midnight as the deputy commissioner's office earlier late yesterday declared Desh's publication illegal.
The arrest capped a 17-hour drama played out after the paper's publisher Hashmat Ali, who himself was briefly "detained" by police, sued Rahman on Tuesday night.
Ali alleged that Rahman snatched away the ownership of the paper through fraudulence while its "real owner" Mosaddek Ali Falu was in jail on a graft charge under emergency rules during the past military backed interim government.
A senior journalist of the newspaper Hassan Hafizur Rahman earlier said that police shut down their press as the daily came up with its first edition late night yesterday hours after the government order scrapping the declaration.
The copies of the edition also were not allowed to be circulated while Rahman yesterday alleged that police shut the press without showing the papers of the order cancelling the declaration.
Rahman was subsequently produced before a Dhaka court where the magistrate ordered him to be sent to jail while police brought a new charge against the former technocrat adviser to the ex-premier for "obstructing policemen" from arresting him.
The state-run BSS news agency said police sought to remand Rahman in custody for five days to interrogate him on the charge alleging raised resistance with the help of the staff and newsmen of his newspaper as well as activists of the BNP as police went there to his office with arrest warrant.
Magistrate Mohammad Nazrul Islam, however, rejected the police prayer for the remand as well as the petition by his lawyers for bail but allowed police to quiz Rahman in jail gate within next three days on the charge.
Dhakas district magistrate and deputy commissioner Mohibul Haque earlier said he cancelled the declaration of the newspaper as "it has no publisher" as the previous publisher Hasmat Ali, in writing, notified him two months ago that "he is no longer the publisher of the newspaper."
But, as of yesterday, Amar Desh was published with Ali's name as the publisher of the newspaper in the printer's line.
Meanwhile, BNP has called a countrywide protest against Rahman's arrest with the party secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain announcing the programme at a press conference also demanding his immediate release withdrawal of the government decision to shut the Desh's publication.
The pro-opposition journalists union also staged a protest at the National press Club while they also planned a protest on the Dhaka streets against the "government aggression on media freedom."B?desh closes opposition mouthpiece, jails editor
Earlier today, the Bangladesh police arrested the editor, Mahmudur Rahman of BNP mouthpiece Amar Desh.
"Police stormed the newspaper office early this morning and arrested our acting editor Mahmudur Rahman," chief reporter of the daily Syed Abdal Ahmed told agency.
Witnesses and reports said police was trying to arrest Rahman but were held out by the journalists and staff of the newspaper since shortly before midnight as the deputy commissioner's office earlier late yesterday declared Desh's publication illegal.
The arrest capped a 17-hour drama played out after the paper's publisher Hashmat Ali, who himself was briefly "detained" by police, sued Rahman on Tuesday night.
Ali alleged that Rahman snatched away the ownership of the paper through fraudulence while its "real owner" Mosaddek Ali Falu was in jail on a graft charge under emergency rules during the past military backed interim government.
A senior journalist of the newspaper Hassan Hafizur Rahman earlier said that police shut down their press as the daily came up with its first edition late night yesterday hours after the government order scrapping the declaration.
The copies of the edition also were not allowed to be circulated while Rahman yesterday alleged that police shut the press without showing the papers of the order cancelling the declaration.
Rahman was subsequently produced before a Dhaka court where the magistrate ordered him to be sent to jail while police brought a new charge against the former technocrat adviser to the ex-premier for "obstructing policemen" from arresting him.
The state-run BSS news agency said police sought to remand Rahman in custody for five days to interrogate him on the charge alleging raised resistance with the help of the staff and newsmen of his newspaper as well as activists of the BNP as police went there to his office with arrest warrant.
Magistrate Mohammad Nazrul Islam, however, rejected the police prayer for the remand as well as the petition by his lawyers for bail but allowed police to quiz Rahman in jail gate within next three days on the charge.
Dhakas district magistrate and deputy commissioner Mohibul Haque earlier said he cancelled the declaration of the newspaper as "it has no publisher" as the previous publisher Hasmat Ali, in writing, notified him two months ago that "he is no longer the publisher of the newspaper."
But, as of yesterday, Amar Desh was published with Ali's name as the publisher of the newspaper in the printer's line.
Meanwhile, BNP has called a countrywide protest against Rahman's arrest with the party secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain announcing the programme at a press conference also demanding his immediate release withdrawal of the government decision to shut the Desh's publication.
The pro-opposition journalists union also staged a protest at the National press Club while they also planned a protest on the Dhaka streets against the "government aggression on media freedom."B?desh closes opposition mouthpiece, jails editor
