The Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists and the Dhaka Union of Journalists factions on Saturday demanded immediate release of journalist Sayed Khan, who was put on five-day remand on Friday.
They also demanded justice for journalists who were killed during work, ensuring better treatment for the injured and abolition of the Cyber Security Act, according to a press release.
The journalists raised the demand at a protest rally, organised by the BFUJ and the DUJ, in front of the National Press Club.
Alleging Sayed Khan鈥檚 arrest for writing true report, BFUJ faction president Ruhul Amin Gazi said that journalists were not afraid of anything.
Nothing can prevent journalists from reporting objective news, he said, adding that four journalists were shot dead while performing their professional duties during the countrywide student movement for quota reform in government jobs.
DUJ former general secretary Sarder Farid Ahmad said that revealing truth was the primary job for a journalist and Sayed Khan did that.
He said that people did not believe the narrative that the government was creating as common people saw what happened.
He also urged all journalists to present the true picture in their reports.
DUJ faction senior vice-president Rafiq Muhammad presided over the protest rally while BFUJ president Ruhul Amin Gazi was present as chief guest.
BFUJ vice-president Khairul Bashar, DUJ vice-president Rashedul Haque and BFUJ executive council member Aparna Roy, among others, spoke at the rally.
Sayed Khan, organising secretary of DUJ and the Dhaka correspondent of The Mirror Asia, was put on remand on Friday after he was picked up by a team of Detective Branch from his house in the capital鈥檚 Moghbazar area.
He was shown arrested at Mirpur police station in a case filed over setting the metro rail on fire.
Sayed along with main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party student affairs secretary Rafiqul Islam and three others have been arrested in the same case and put on five-day remand.聽聽