Amnesty urges Bangladesh to drop charges against Farzana Rupa, Mozammel Babu

Amnesty International has called on Bangladeshi authorities to immediately drop charges against former Ekattor Television journalists Farzana Rupa and Mozammel Haque Babu arising from their coverage of the 2013 Shapla Chattar crackdown.

In a statement, the international rights group said freedom of expression protects information and opinions even when they are considered “offensive, shocking, or disturbing.”

“Journalists must not be targeted for opinions which are disagreeable, or their perceived links to political parties,” Amnesty said.

It called on the authorities to protect freedom of expression and media freedom in accordance with Bangladesh’s international human rights obligations. 

Rupa was Ekattor Television’s chief reporter, while Babu was the private broadcaster’s managing director and editor-in-chief.

The case relates to Ekattor’s coverage of the security operation against a Hefazat-e-Islam gathering at Shapla Chattar in Dhaka’s Motijheel on May 5-6, 2013.

Prosecutors have alleged that Rupa produced a programme, under Babu’s direction, that portrayed the operation as having resulted in no deaths and thereby sought to obscure the actual casualty figures. 

The death toll from the operation has remained contested for years.

The International Crimes Tribunal prosecution says 57 people were killed in Dhaka, Narayanganj and Chattogram in connection with the Hefazat demonstrations. 

Rupa and Babu were shown arrested in the crimes against humanity case on May 14. They were already in custody in separate cases linked to deaths during the July-August 2024 uprising. 

Formal charges were subsequently submitted in July against 41 people, including ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, Rupa and Babu. The tribunal took the charges into cognisance. 

The prosecution has argued that the journalists' coverage formed part of an effort to deliberately divert attention from the alleged killings. 

Press freedom and rights organisations have strongly challenged that basis for prosecution.

In July, Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, the Committee to Protect Journalists, ARTICLE 19 and CIVICUS jointly said editorial decisions concerning a disputed political event should not be criminalised, particularly as crimes against humanity.

They warned that pursuing journalists over such coverage could have a chilling effect on Bangladesh’s media. 

CPJ separately called the crimes-against-humanity charges “simply unacceptable” and urged authorities to drop them. It noted that a conviction before the ICT could expose the journalists to the death penalty.

Amnesty said Bangladesh must ensure that journalists are able to carry out their work without facing prosecution simply because their reporting, opinions or perceived political associations are considered objectionable.

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