Bangladesh arrests journalist over Facebook post on dead goat

Ruling Awami League says 'they did not like the matter'

Bangladesh police on Tuesday arrested a journalist and accused him  of defaming a minister in a Facebook post about a dead goat.

A reporter at a regional Bengali-language daily named Abdul Latif Morol was detained in Dumuria after a journalist from a rival news agency filed a case under a draconian law, ScoopWhoop reported.



"The complainant said Morol has defamed the state (junior) minister for fisheries and livestock, Narayan Chandra Chanda, after he made a derogatory post about him in Facebook, local police chief Sukumar Biswas told AFP.

#Bangladesh-i authorities should drop all charges against Abdul Latif Morol and should release him without delay https://t.co/qXVy0O1hrl

— Committee to Protect Journalists (@pressfreedom) August 1, 2017

 

Chanda was the chief guest at an event organised by the government's local livestock department at Dumuria on Saturday.

At the event livestock, including goats, chickens and ducks, were donated to poor farmers, but one of the donated goats later died, according to local media reports.



Morol took to Facebook and wrote, "Goat given by state minister in the morning dies in the evening," Biswas said.

The complainant alleged that Morol's post was aimed at undermining the minister socially and personally as he should have blamed the local livestock officials and not the minister.

The ruling Awami League said, "We did not like the matter (the Facebook post)", in an interview.

Rights groups have accused the Bangladesh government of using Section 57 of the Information and Communications Technology law — the law under which the current complaint was filed — to crack down on dissent and harass journalists.