Journalist Sohel freed from DB custody, shares account of ordeal

The Detective Branch (DB) of police has released Mizanur Rahman Sohel, secretary of the Online Editors Alliance and head of online at the Bangla daily Bhorer Kagoj, after questioning. He was handed over to his family at around 10:15 am on Wednesday.

In a long Facebook post shared after his release, Sohel wrote, “Alhamdulillah. After being held in DB custody for nearly ten and a half hours without any wrongdoing, they have finally dropped me home with respect.”

According to his account, around midnight, five to six DB members forcibly picked him up from his residence, saying the DB chief wanted to speak with him. “At the DB office, my name was recorded in the suspects' register. I was made to remove my shoes and belt and kept in the lock-up with other detainees. But why was I detained? Neither I nor the officers who brought me in, nor their seniors, could explain the reason,” he wrote.

Sohel claimed he later realised that he had been detained at the behest of a government adviser, allegedly to benefit a group of only nine mobile phone traders by allowing them to maintain monopoly control. He added that Abu Sayeed Pias, general secretary of Mobile Business Community Bangladesh, was also detained and remains in DB custody.

He further said that on Wednesday, Business Community Bangladesh (MBCB), an association of mobile handset traders, was scheduled to hold a press conference at DRU on the National Equipment Identity Register (NEIR), where he was serving as media consultant. “Their primary target was to stop that press conference. But unfortunately for them, the very intention behind stopping it has now become known to the whole nation,” he wrote.

Terming the NEIR system “clearly contradictory to the country’s free trade policy,” Sohel said the Competition Commission also exists to ensure fair market practices. “Yet a deep conspiracy is underway to ruin the livelihoods of 25,000 mobile phone traders across the country to benefit just nine individuals. If this project is implemented, rural people, expatriates and many others will suffer. A whole chain will collapse. Many traders will be destitute. One of these nine businessmen happens to be a school friend of the adviser,” he alleged.

Questioning why the government fears criticism of a business syndicate, the journalist wrote, “Was it necessary to pick me up in the middle of the night just to stop a press conference? Those who preach ‘freedom of speech’—were they the ones trying to silence me? Is this the real picture of freedom of expression in a land ruled by might?”

Sohel expressed gratitude to well-wishers, colleagues, friends and others who posted on social media, issued statements or published news reports calling for his release.