Journos' sit-in before home ministry Jan 1, grand rally Jan 20

 

Journalists will stage a sit-in in front of the home ministry on January 1 to press home their demands including the immediate arrest of the killers of journalist couple Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Runi.
The journalists will also hold a grand rally on January 20 in Dhaka and observe a work abstention programme from 11:00am to 2:00pm in all print media the same day.
Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, president of a faction of Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ), announced the programme at a mass hunger strike on Sunday.
The six-hour hunger strike started around 11:00am on the premises of the National Press Club in the capital.
Ruhul Amin Gazi, president of another BFUJ faction, presided over the hunger strike.
Sagar, news editor at the private TV station Maasranga and his wife Runi, senior reporter at ATN Bangla, were killed in the early hours of February 11 at their rented apartment in the capital's West Rajabazar.
The hunger strike was jointly organised by the BFUJ, Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ), National Press Club and Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU).
They also demanded arrest and exemplary punishment to the killers of all journalists, an end to harassment and assault of on-duty journalists by police, killing and attack on working journalists by miscreants and ensuring freedom of press.
On October 9, the home minister named seven suspects in the brutal murder of the journalist couple.
“As four of the arrestees are professional killers, we want to know who hired them and what their motive was,” Iqbal Sobhan said earlier.
Ruhul Amin Gazi said earlier no journalist would be safe if the killers of Sagar-Runi were not punished.