The Directorate of Information (PID) canceled the accreditation cards of a total of 167 journalists in three phases. The list also includes the names of many professional and active journalists and editors, which has worried the editorial board. Apart from this, various international rights organizations also expressed concern about the matter.
Reporters Without Borders, a global media rights group, said in a statement that the decision to revoke journalists' accreditation cards 'encourages self-imposed censorship,' according to British media Independent UK.
Reporters Without Borders also said it was 'incomprehensible' that the interim government's information ministry would take this initiative just a week after it set up a committee to monitor harassment cases filed against journalists.
The international anti-corruption organization Transparency International called the revocation of accreditation cards of journalists in Bangladesh, as well as threats and attacks against the press, indicative of an 'anti-people authoritarian regime'.
The interim government, which took office in August after Sheikh Hasina's government was ousted in the face of student protests, has pledged to restore democracy and uphold a free press. In an interview given to a leading daily of the country last month. Yunus spoke for freedom of media. He said, 'Write as you like, criticize. If you do not write, how will we understand what is happening and what is not happening?'
However, harassment and attacks against journalists continue. Reporters Without Borders reported that at least 25 journalists, including those considered pro-Hasina, have been charged with violence related to the protests.
Earlier, Human Rights Watch condemned the arrest of two journalists last August. The agency expressed concern that the judiciary was “replicating humiliating and discriminatory practices” without following due process and that “in this case only the targets have changed.”
Earlier, in a statement on November 12, the Editorial Board said that the Editorial Board thinks that the Ministry of Information reserves the right to review any misuse of the accreditation card. However, this step of canceling the press accreditation card without specific allegations and proof of crime is a threat to the freedom of the press and an obstacle to ensuring a democratic environment. Through this, there is a risk of creating a control environment with censorship in the media, which is also against the original spirit of the July-August coup. The editorial board sees the matter as a repetition of the undemocratic practices of the past ultra-regulatory structure.
In this situation, the editors' council called upon the Ministry of Information to refrain from taking such sweeping actions without specific allegations and proof of crime, and to stop all attacks on the media and to ensure independent and democratic journalism.
