CPJ calls for release of journalists Mozammel Babu and Farzana Rupa

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an international media watchdog, has called for the immediate withdrawal of crimes against humanity charges against arrested journalists Mozammel Babu and Farzana Rupa and their release. The organisation made the appeal in a statement on Monday.

The CPJ said a formal charge sheet was filed on Monday at the International Crimes Tribunal in a case related to the 2013 crackdown on the Hifazat-e-Islam rally at Shapla Chattar. The case was filed against 41 individuals, including former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. According to the allegations, 58 people were killed in that operation.

Farzana Rupa is a former chief reporter and presenter of Ekattor Television, and Mozammel Babu is the founder and former editor-in-chief of the channel. They were arrested on May 14 in the case at the International Crimes Tribunal. The tribunal's chief prosecutor, Md Aminul Islam, claimed that a documentary produced for Ekattor Television on the Shapla Chattar operation, under Mozammel Babu's direction, falsely claimed that no one was killed in the incident.

CPJ's Asia-Pacific Programme Coordinator Kunal Majumder said in a statement that charging Farzana Rupa and Mozammel Babu with crimes against humanity for doing their journalistic work is unacceptable. The authorities should withdraw the charges against them and put an end to the pattern of political retaliation against the media.

The organisation also said the journalists face the risk of the death penalty if convicted in this case. They have also been in prison since August 2024 in separate murder cases related to the 2024 uprising. Although the High Court granted them bail in those cases, the Appellate Division later stayed the order. The CPJ said emails sent to the Ministry of Law and the office of the chief prosecutor of the International Crimes Tribunal seeking comment had not received a response by the time the report was published.