Govt revokes accreditation of 29 more journalists

The government has revoked the permanent and temporary press accreditation cards of 29 more journalists, including reporters, newspaper editors, and television chief executive officers.

An order dated November 3 was issued in this regard, signed by Md Nizamul Kabir, chief information officer of the Press Information Department under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

According to the notification, the move was made as per sections 6.9, 6.10, 9.5, and 9.6 of the Press Accreditation Principle-2022. On October 29, 20 journalists had lost their accreditation in a similar fashion.

Among those whose accreditations were scrapped in the second phase are TV Today Editor-in-Chief Monjurul Ahsan Bulbul; Kaler Kantho Editor Emdadul Haque Milon; News24 Head of News Rahul Raha; ATN News's Head of News Nurul Amin Probhas; Daily Destiny's Sohel Haider Chowdhury; Somoy TV's Ahmed Zobayer; News24's Joydev Chandra Das; BSS's Md Omar Faruque; Kaler Kantho's Haider Ali; Soma Islam of Channel I; Daily Purbakon's Kuddus Afrad; Baishakhi TV's Saiful Islam; Freelancer Nadim Kadir; BSS's Madhusudhan Mondal; Independent TV's Ashish Ghosh Saikat, Dainik Bangla's Zafarullah Sharafat; Dainik Anandabazar's Kishore Kumar Sarker; Daily Bangladesh Bulletin's Rafiqul Islam Ratan; MyTV's Nasir Uddin; Ekushey TV's Akhil Kumar Podder; Gazi TV's Anjan Roy; RTV's CEO Ashiqur Rahman; and Daily Bhorer Kagaj's news editor Ikhtiar Uddin.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has voiced alarm over the revocation of press accreditation of these journalists "perceived to be in support of the Awami League". In a post on social media platform 'X' yesterday, the CPJ said the interim authorities must not target journalists for their work, thereby risking media censorship.