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Media watchdog condemns Bangladesh paper closure
Agence France Presse - June 3, 2010
Dhaka – Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders on Thursday condemned Bangladesh authorities for closing an opposition newspaper and said it was concerned about the paper's detained editor.
The Paris-based group said it was "outraged" by Bangladesh's decision to shut the Bengali-language Amar Desh and arrest its acting editor, Mahmudur Rahman, on charges of fraud and violently resisting arrest.
"The night-time raid by armed police on the daily?s headquarters and the use of force to arrest editor Mahmudur Rahman are unworthy of a government that claims to respect the rule of law," the group said in a statement.
"The Awami League government is clearly unable to tolerate criticism from this opposition newspaper," it added.
Rahman was the energy adviser to BNP leader Khaleda Zia during her second term as Bangladeshi premier, from 2001 to 2006.
He has been a vocal critic of the current Awami League government since it swept to power in December 2008 elections.
Several of the paper's journalists, who attempted to prevent police from arresting Rahman, have also been arrested and charged.
Reporters without Borders called for "an independent and transparent investigation" into the charges against the paper, and said the paper should be allowed to continue publishing.
Authorities said Wednesday that the newspaper's publication rights were cancelled after its publisher filed a case with the police saying he was no longer responsible for Amar Desh and it was being printed illegally.
But Reporters Without Borders said members of the National Security Intelligence service had taken the publisher, Hashmat Ali, to their headquarters where he was forced to sign blank sheets of papers.
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