CPJ urges CA Yunus to release four jailed Bangladeshi journalists

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has sent a letter to Bangladesh’s Chief Adviser, Professor Muhammad Yunus, demanding the immediate release of four journalists currently imprisoned on what the organisation describes as vindictive and baseless charges filed in retaliation for their reporting and political activities.

The journalists named in the letter are Farzana Rupa, Shakil Ahmed, Mozammel Babu and Shyamal Dutta.

The letter was emailed to Dr. Yunus on Monday, December 2, 2025, just over a week before International Human Rights Day on December 10.

CPJ highlighted the inhumane detention conditions the four are enduring at Kashimpur Central Jail. 

According to accounts from their families, the journalists are confined in a cramped 36-square-foot cell with iron bars instead of a door, exposing them to cold and mosquitoes. They sleep on bare concrete floors without mattresses and are denied adequate food and medical care.

Although Dr. Yunus told The Daily Star in November 2024 that murder cases were being hastily filed against journalists and that the government had moved to stop the practice, CPJ pointed out that new murder charges have been brought against these four journalists since he assumed office on August 8, 2024, and their repeated bail applications have been rejected.

The letter also raised alarm over a recent murder case filed against the journalists’ lawyer, ZI Khan Panna.

Invoking Bangladesh’s obligations under Article 39 of its Constitution and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), CPJ called on the interim government to mark Human Rights Day by freeing all imprisoned journalists and allowing them to return to their families and professions.

In a separate report published the same day, CPJ revealed it had sent similar appeals to six other Asian governments in Asia — India, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Vietnam — demanding the release of detained journalists.

Asia accounts for more than 30 percent of the world’s imprisoned journalists. As of December 1, 2025, at least 106 journalists were behind bars across the region, with China (50), Myanmar (27), and Vietnam (16) topping the list.