US’s Jefferson Fellow journalists in Bangladesh expressed profound shock and protested strongly the assault, confinement and subsequent arrest of Rozina Islam, a senior award-winning journalist of leading Bangla newspaper Prothom Alo.

Detaining Rozina for around five hours and abusing her physically in the secretariat during discharging of her professional duty Monday went against the spirit of free press and was tantamount to an attempt to muzzle critical journalism in Bangladesh, they stated.

They protested immediate release of Rozina, withdrawal of the case filed against her and punishment to those involved with assaulting her.

The Jefferson Fellows also demanded annulling the controversial Digital Security Act and stop harassing journalists for the betterment of democracy and ensure justice.

Jefferson Fellow journalists in Bangladesh include Daily Star editor Mahfuz Anam, New Age editor Nurul Kabir, senior journalists Monjurul Ahsan Bulbul,  Shahed Siddique and M Azizur Rahman.

MH