Journalists demand reinvestigation
Commemorative meeting on Manik Saha held
UNB
Demanding reinvestigation of the journalist Manik Saha killing case, eminent citizens on Monday said that the real culprits behind the murder must be given capital punishment for the sake of media freedom and journalists safety, reports UNB. They also said that planners of murder, financiers, patrons and professional killers must be identified. Journalist leaders, politicians and rights activists made the demand in a commemoration event organised by Sangbadik Manik Saha Hatyar Bicharprarthi Sangkhubdha Sangbadik Samaj marking the 14th death anniversary of Manik Saha at Purana Paltans Mukti Bhaban in the capital on Monday.
Awarded with Ekushey Padak posthumously, Manik Saha was a stringer of BBC Bangla Service, senior reporter of daily New Age and Dainik Sangbad and Khulna chapter president of Amnesty International.
He was bombed to death at noon on January 15 in 2004 at Chhota Mirzapur, in Khulna city.
Communist Party of Bangladesh president Mujahidul Islam Selim said, that Manik Saha, was not only a professional journalist, but also he was a human rights activist, social reformer and real patriot. Manik is the inspiration of young journalists, Selim said.
He urged the authorities concerned to file an appeal against trial courts verdict before the High Court.
Terming Manik Saha as a journalist of strict principal, Abdul Jalil Bhuyan, former secretary general of Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists, said that impartial trial of the case is necessary for press freedom and for ensuring safety of the journalists community.
Rajekuzzaman Ratan, central leader of Socialist Party of Bangladesh (BSD) said that Manik Saha, who was the president of Khulna Press Club, lost his life physically, but he would remain alive in common peoples heart by dint of his activities.
He urged the government to take initiatives to ensure capital punishment for the real culprits, including planners, financers and patrons, behind the brutal murder.
Chaired by former general secretary of Dhaka Reporters Unity Razu Ahmed and moderated by ptbnews.com chief editor Ashis Kumar Dey, the discussion was addressed, among others, by CPB central secretary Ruhin Hossain Prince, rights activist Jalal Uddin, Channel 24 current affairs editor Rahul Raha, BFUJ joint secretary general Amio Ghatak Pulack and Dhaka Union of Journalist general secretary Sohel Haider Chowdhury.
