Journalist couple arrested in Bangladesh on murder charges

Immigration officials arrested the couple at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Wednesday afternoon and handed them over to Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s detective branch

Two leading Bangladeshi television journalists were arrested on charges of murder on Wednesday as they were attempting to travel abroad, Dhaka Metropolitan Police said.

The arrested journalists were identified as Shakil Ahmed, former chief news editor of the private channel Ekattor Television, and his wife Farzana Rupa, former principal correspondent and presenter at the same channel.

The journalists were identified as Shakil Ahmed, former chief news editor of the private channel Ekattor Television, and his wife Farzana Rupa, former principal correspondent and presenter at the same channel.

Immigration officials arrested the couple at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Wednesday afternoon and handed them over to Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s detective branch, a statement said.

They were arrested in connection with a murder case filed at Uttara East police station in Dhaka. The details of the case were not shared by the police.

Three days after former premier Sheikh Hasina stepped down on August 5, Ahmed and his wife were relieved from their jobs at Ekattor Television.

Hasina fled to India following weeks of student-led protests. According to the United Nations, over 600 people, mainly students, were killed during the protests when the law enforcement personnel opened fire on the protestors.

An interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was formed on August 8, and since then a raft of criminal cases have been filed across the country against Hasina, her ministers, Awami League leaders and workers, police and military officers, and those seen as close to the former premier and her party.