DHAKA Nov. 23, Reuter: Police arrested a Bangladeshi freelance journalist working for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) early on Monday and served him with a one month detention order, his family said.
About 20 armed police arrested ‘Ataus Samad at his home at 2 a.m. He was taken to a police station and sent to Dhaka Central Jail after being served with a detention order.
Samad, 50, worked mainly for the BBC but also wrote for the Christian Science Monitor.
He was arrested just three days afire President Hossain Mohammad Ershad blamed British media for distorted coverage of strikes that have paralyzed Bangladesh for the Iast two weeks.
Philip Jones, a BBC correspondent who flew to Dhaka last week from London, said he spoke to Samad by telephone while he ‘was at a police station before being transferred to jail
Jones quoted Samad as saying he did not know what the charges were but was told he should be prepared to stay for some time.
Information Minister Anwar Zahid told Reuters Samad had been detained “for internal political reasons” under the special powers act which empowers the government to detain anyone without warrant,
A senior police official said he ‘was detained because the government was unhappy with his coverage of antigovernment strikes called by the opposition to force Ershad to resign:
Ershad rebuked the BBC indirectly on Friday for “meddling in our internal affairs” by its coverage of the strikes.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 27, 1987
