Daily Star journalist, CNN stringer, Human Rights Watch researcher, and Blogger Tasneem Khalil was picked up by Joint Forces Thursday night, and released 24 hours later. They also took his 2 computers and mobile phone. Tasneem was chief researcher on HRW’s in=depth report on RAB “Judge, Jury & Executioner” and has written about torture-murder of Adivasi activist Choles Ritchil, extra-judicial killings, etc.

Update 11:1:00 pm BDT (Sat)
Amader Shomoy reports DGFI’s Rumi has been transferred.

Update 10:8:51 am BDT (Sat)
Mahfuz Anam's statement
Prothom Alo has a small item @ bottom of front page. New Age covers well. Nothing in other papers. BDNews24.com has posted a scan of Mahfuz Anam’s statement.

Update 9:11:33 pm BDT (Fri)
Tasneem is meeting with Mahfuz Anam in his office alone. Staffers in office say he looks physically ok, but badly shaken up. He is being taken home to his wife by DS staff after the meeting with MA.

Update 8:11:15 pm BDT
Tasneem Khalil released by joint forces, almost 24 hours after being picked up. No news on whether 2 computers and mobile phone were returned.

Update 7:10:15 pm BDT
Senior Daily Star office are huddled in office, including Mahfuz Anam. MA has released a statement. Excerpts: ” “I contacted the authorities concerned and was informed that him being questioned was not due to his journalistic work and had nothing to do with his functions at The Daily Star….In fact, it was because of the contents of his personal blog and some SMSs he had sent recently…..”

Update 6:5:50 pm BDT
Many people don’t have internet access as today holiday, so the strategic decision to arrest him night before weekend helped to impose partial news blackout. SMSs still flying, but no new update. Shockingly, still nothing posted on Daily Star or BDNews24, even though they have other breaking news. So they have decided to sit on it. Also note, Reuters quotes Zafar Sobhan, but not Mahfuz Anam– editor of the DS.

Update 5: 3 PM BDT
Tasneem has been allowed to telephone wife briefly. Associate Press quotes Zafar Sobhan

Update 4: 1 PM BDT
CNN carrying it as main header
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/05/11/bangladesh.journalist/index.html
CNN and HRW have been in contact with Bangladesh’s Special Envoy to the United States, Farook Sobhan, and other officials.

Update 3: 8:49 AM BDT
All diplomatic missions in Dhaka were informed of the arrest this morning. They are sending back updates to home country. Fakhruddin Ahmed has also been informed.

Update2: 7 AM BDT
news is spreading fast in international media.

Update 1: Human Rights Watch has issued an alert

Army Arrests Tasneem Khalil of Human Rights Watch
(London, May 11, 2007) – Bangladesh’s military-backed care-taker government should immediately release Tasneem Khalil, an investigative journalist and part-time Human Rights Watch consultant, who was detained by security forces late last night, Human Rights Watch said today.

We are extremely concerned about Tasneem Khalil’s safety. He has been a prominent voice in Bangladesh for human rights and the rule of law, and has been threatened because of that.

Khalil, 26, is a journalist for the Dhaka-based Daily Star newspaper who conducts research for Human Rights Watch, and is stringer for CNN. According to his wife, four men in plainclothes who identified themselves as from the “joint task force”came to the door after midnight on May 11 in Dhaka, demanding to take Khalil away. They said they were placing Khalil “under arrest” and taking him to the Sangsad Bhavan army camp, outside the parliament building in Dhaka.

“We are extremely concerned about Tasneem Khalil’s safety,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “He has been a prominent voice in Bangladesh for human rights and the rule of law, and has been threatened because of that.”

The men did not offer a warrant or any charges, Khalil’s wife said. Using threatening language, they searched the house and confiscated Khalil’s passport, two computers, documents, and two mobile phones.

“It is an emergency; we can arrest anyone,” one of the men said. Another asked if Khalil suffered from any particular physical ailments. They drove Khalil off in a Pajero jeep.

Khalil is a noted investigative journalist who has published several controversial exposes of official corruption and abuse, particularly by security forces. He assisted Human Rights Watch in research for a 2006 report about torture and extrajudicial killings by Bangladesh security forces.

According to Bangladeshi human rights groups, the army has detained tens of thousands of people since a state of emergency was declared on January 11, 2007. A number of those detained are picked up in the middle of the night, as Khalil was, and then tortured.

In Bangladesh, security forces have long been implicated in torture and extrajudicial killings. The killings have been attributed to members of the army, the police, and the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), an elite anti-crime and anti-terrorism force. The Human Rights Watch report Khalil worked on, “Judge, Jury, and Executioner: Torture and Extrajudicial Killings by Bangladesh’s Elite Security Force,” focused on abuses by the RAB.

Killings in custody remain a persistent problem in Bangladesh. To date, no military personnel are known to have been held criminally responsible for any of the deaths.

Khalil was called in for questioning by military intelligence last week, apparently as part of the military’s campaign to intimidate independent journalists ahead of May 10, 2007, when the army’s three-month legal mandate for ruling under a state of emergency came to an end.

“The Bangladeshi military should be on notice that its actions are being closely watched by the outside world,” Adams said. “Any harm to Tasneem Khalil will seriously undermine the army’s claims to legitimacy and upholding the rule of law.”

DP Petition

To: The Honourable Chief Adviser of the Non-Party Caretaker Government and Advisers of Ministries

Drishtipat is highly concerned at the arrest and detention of Tasneem Khalil, a journalist and human rights activist. Khalil, 26, works for the Daily Star, and is associated with international organizations of repute such as Human Rights Watch and CNN. He is a staunch defender of human rights and an outspoken critic of human rights abuses.

In the early hours of 11 May, four men without uniform, identifying themselves as part of the “joint forces”, came to Khalil’s door and took him away to the Sangsad Bhaban army camp. No warrants were shown, nor were any charges made against him. According to witnesses, they confiscated his property, including passport, two computers, documents, and two mobile phones, again without showing cause.

We have welcomed your Government’s drive against corruption, your plans for reform and your support for Bangladeshi expatriates having a greater voice in the running of their country. Drishtipat is an organization of Bangladeshi expatriates and we urge you to investigate the causes and conditions of his detention and ensure justice and humane treatment for Tasneem Khalil, against whom no suspicions, let alone charges, of corruption were ever made. If there are no charges against him, we urge that he is released immediately. Further, we strongly condemn such arbitrary arrests and other attempts at intimidating the media, since it runs counter to the very reform your Government want to see.

The Drishtipat Team.