vigilant TV

The Guardian reports on the two Bangladeshi journalists arrested for helping UK journalists make a political documentary. The two UK journalists were released and deported, but reporters Saleem Samad and Priscilla Raj from Bangladesh face possible sedition charges. Raj has been released on bail, but Samad is still under detention without charge. RSF says that a court has ordered Samad’s release, but the Guardian doesn’t confirm that.

Priscila Raz was let out of jail today, 11 days after Channel 4 reporter and cameraman Zaiba Malik and Bruno Sorrentino were freed and deported.

[...]

Raz was arrested on November 25 and charged with helping the journalists “tarnish the image of Bangladesh”.

The country’s high court granted her bail on December 18, but she was only released from Dhaka central jail late Sunday as the court order did not reach the prison authorities for four days, a jail official said on condition of anonymity.

[...]

Samad was also charged with sedition for aiding the foreign journalists. He has a bail hearing before the high court this week.

Reporters Sans Frontieres, the international press watchdog, has claimed Samad was beaten during interrogation by the police and intelligence services in a Dhaka jail.

Raz and Samad could face life in prison if convicted of sedition.

– Guardian, Bangladeshi journalist freed on bail.

See also RSF, Campaign for the release of Saleem Samad and Priscilla Raj, held without charge.