Amid the continuing oppression against journalists in Bangladesh, SUSHAMA SHASHI DUTTA pleads to the government in an open letter for the release of her father
16/9/25
“Today marks one year since my father’s arbitrary detention
began. One year of suffering without justice. One year in which
truth has been buried, rights have been denied, and a family has
been made to live in anguish.
For over 37 years, my father served Bangladesh with honor and
integrity through his work as a journalist. He built his career from
the ground up, enduring decades of political unrest, hostility and
threats to his life under successive governments. Time and again,
he used his profession as a platform to speak on various human
rights abuses, and defend press freedom. And yet, tragically, he
has become the victim of the very injustices he has consistently
stood against.
Journalists, including my father, were not spared. A mob violently attacked his office, he was wrongfully expelled from his role at the National Press Club, he was humiliated by unfounded accusations, and finally, he was arrested on September 16, 2024, in connection with a murder he did not commit.Mass arrests, fabricated charges, and arbitrary detention have been
used as retaliatory tools by successive governments throughout the
history of Bangladesh; and the murder case against my father is no
exception – verging on the absurd. A man named Fazlu, 31 years
old, was tragically killed in Dhaka on August 5 – a day my father
was not even present in the city. No link whatsoever to the victim or the crime was presented, yet my father’s
name was nonetheless inserted among 400 accused individuals, many of them journalists.
A descent into cruelty
What has followed is a descent into cruelty. My father, who suffers
from sleep apnea, was denied access to his breathing device for three
months in detention. He endured a stroke while in custody, and our
family was not informed. He was forced to sleep on the floor
through the winter. His medical and dietary needs have been
systematically ignored. And in October 2024, the bank accounts of
my father and all his immediate family were frozen – without
explanation, process, and without end.Even if journalism is wrongfully criminalised, why are my innocent family members being punished? Bangladesh has been a proud member of the United Nations for
51 years. Yet the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights remain withheld from my father:
Article 9: No one should be subject to arbitrary arrest, detention, or
exile.
Article 10: You have the right to a fair and public trial by an
independent and impartial tribunal.
Article 11: Everyone is to be presumed innocent until proven guilty
in a fair trial.
A promise to drop charges
Even the Chief Advisor of the Interim Government, Dr.
Muhammad Yunus, acknowledged in November 2024 that the cases
against journalists were arbitrary and promised they would be
removed. Yet, nearly a year later, my father remains behind bars,
bail repeatedly denied, hearings indefinitely delayed, and truth
ignored.
The United Nations Human Rights Office itself, in its February 2025
report, recognized this persecution. It recommended that charges
against journalists be dropped and that they be spared from arbitrary
arrests and harassment. But those words remain unheeded, and my
father’s imprisonment continues.
I ask you: Will justice be denied not only to my father, but also to
Fazlu, whose true killer remains unaccountable and free? Does this
not contradict the very principle the current government claims to
uphold – to deliver justice to those who fell in the July Revolution?
What am I to say to my 14-year-old sister when she asks why her
father is not home? What do I tell myself as I miss my graduation
ceremony – an achievement that belongs as much to him as it does to
me – knowing he is deprived of even that joy?
An entire year has already been stolen from us—and absolutely
nothing can compensate for the time we have lost and the
sufferings that we continue to endure as a family under a system
that systematically supresses and oppresses us.
I urge you, with all the respect I can give, to raise your voice where
ours is silenced, to hold Bangladesh to its commitments under
international law, and to stand with those who have no power left
but truth.”
If you would like to discuss further details, please email
sushamashashi98@gmail.com or call +61422616729.
