Prominent journalist and editor of English daily New Age Nurul Kabir said that there was harassment at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport recently. Expressing regret for the incident, the press wing of the Chief Adviser said that the Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus has ordered an investigation into the incident.
In a message on Saturday (November 23), the interim government will not tolerate harassment of any journalist in the country.
Nurul Kabir has been one of our most respected editors in her long career, a leading voice of reason and a champion of journalistic integrity, the message added.
Nurul Kabir was harassed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport while leaving the country for a media conference on November 18.
In a status on his verified account on Facebook on Saturday (November 23), he said, 'For more than two decades, I have been harassed by the immigration authorities at Dhaka airport while traveling abroad. The intelligence officers took away my passport, interrogated me about the purpose of travel even though everything was written on the printed document, made me wait for almost an hour, took photos of my passport pages violating my privacy and returned the documents minutes before the flight took off. Although there was no trouble while returning home.'
He wrote in the complaint, 'I was going abroad for a media conference on November 18. I hoped that my days of harassment at Dhaka airport were over, at least for a while. But my guess is wrong. This time, he had to be a victim of double harassment. I had to face harassment for one hour while leaving the country and another hour while returning home on November 22. The intelligence agencies of our country look at being patriots with suspicion.'
