Prothom Alo journo held at dead of night

A Prothom Alo reporter was picked up from his home in Savar by law enforcers wearing plainclothes around 4:00am yesterday, triggering widespread criticism.

Samsuzzaman Shams, a staff correspondent based in Savar, was detained less than two hours after a Jubo League leader sued him under the Digital Security Act (DSA).

Journalist organisations and rights bodies condemned the incident and demanded his immediate release.

No law enforcement agencies admitted detaining him.

But at 12:36am today, Shams called a senior colleague at Prothom Alo and said a CID team was about to drop him off in front of the Bangabandhu International Conference Center, a senior reporter of the newspaper said.

The colleague then told Shams to wait for him in front of the BICC for 10 minutes.

Shams replied, "It seems there is another team there."

He was then heard requesting someone to drop him off a few yards ahead.

Two reporters then rushed to the spot, but could not find him. Shams' phone was also unreachable by that time.

Multiple sources including sub-inspector  Raju Mondol of Ashulia Police Station, who accompanied the men in plainclothes, and Shams' landlord Ferdous Alam, said a Criminal Investigation Department team from Dhaka picked him up from his flat in Ambagan area near Jahangirnagar University.

Ferdous told reporters that the CID members said the state has an objection to a report he wrote.

Around 1:15pm, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told journalists at his Secretariat office that a case was filed against Shams over a report published on Independence Day.

Asked why law enforcers told the landlord that the state has an objection about his report, the home minister said it was not about the state's objection.

On Independence Day, Prothom Alo ran a report on its website, and while posting the report on social media, it made a "card" with a quote of a labourer named Zakir Hossain. Although the card contained Zakir's quote, it had the photo of an adolescent boy taken from behind.

The mistake was noticed within 17 minutes, and the card was removed immediately. Besides, corrections were made to the report and the news was again published online mentioning the corrections.

Prothom Alo maintains that the report doesn't mention that the quote was of that boy in the photo. Rather, the report clearly says that it was Zakir who said this.

Shams, aged 37, is the younger brother of the slain Detective Branch assistant commissioner Robiul Karim, who died at the Holey Artisan Bakery during the terrorist attack on July 1, 2016.

The man who filed the case is Syed Golam Kibria, 36, general secretary of Ward-11 committee of Dhaka North City Jubo League.

He filed the case against Shams and several unnamed others with Tejgaon Police Station under the DSA.

He wrote in the complaint that a "false and fabricated report [was published] on the website of daily Prothom Alo on Independence Day to worsen the law and order in the country."

According to the document, the case was filed around 2:15am. Witnesses said the CID team went to Shams's home around 4:00am.

CID officials contacted by reporters throughout yesterday said they had no information about Shams' detention.

But Apurba Hasan, officer-in-charge of Tejgaon Police Station, told The Daily Star in the afternoon that CID officers detained Shams.

Shams' mother Korimonnesa, said, "I want my child back in my arms."

Two witnesses said they saw three vehicles stop in front of Shams' ground-floor flat. There were at least 14 people on board the vehicles, one of which had no number plate.

Shams has been living there for a year. His mother and the widow of his slain brother often visit him.

Ferdous, the landlord, said six-seven people entered the building and introduced themselves as CID officers before asking for Shams.

Then they searched Shams' flat and seized a laptop, two mobile phones and a portable hard disk.

"One of the men was in a police uniform and the rest were in plainclothes. They said that they came from Dhaka," said Ferdous.

The law enforcers then took Shams to Bot Tola area on Jahangirnagar University campus and had sehri.

Ariful Islam, a local journalist who was in Shams' flat at the time of the incident, said, "The law enforcers came for a second time and made a list of the seized items. They asked Shams to take some clothes and took his photo. They left in 5-7 minutes."

Sudipta Shaheen, the chief security officer of Jahangirnagar, was present when the law enforcers came for a second time, he added.

Sudipta told The Daily Star that a CID Superintendent of Police named Rezaul contacted him and said the widow of Shams' slain brother was in trouble and officers needed to meet her.

Since the woman is an employee of the university, Sudipta helped the cops find Shams' flat. "But later, I found out that the CID team actually came to pick up Shams."

CID SP Rezaul neither answered his phone nor replied to texts sent via WhatsApp.

THE CASE

In the complaint, the Jubo League leader wrote that the report went viral on social media. The news was shared by thousands of people at home and abroad along with screenshots of the "card". There was adverse reactions at home and abroad on Independence Day.

From news broadcast by Ekattor TV, it was known that Prothom Alo intentionally presented the news with false identity and a false quote, it read.