Journalist leader Abu Jafar Surjo released

Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) released former president and general secretary of a faction of the Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ), Abu Jafar Surjo, on Sunday (September 27) morning, after detaining him along with more than 50 others a day earlier.

After his release, Abu Jafar Surjo said the police had committed a “very disappointing” act by detaining him despite his repeatedly telling them that he was not an Awami League activist but a journalist leader.

He told Asia Post, “After identifying myself as a journalist, being handcuffed humiliated all journalists. I told the police and the people creating the disturbance that I had never been involved in Awami League politics. But they did not listen to me. The police detained me and kept me in police custody at the station throughout the night.”

Abu Jafar Surjo said more than 50 people were detained and that he was among the first to be taken into custody but was released nearly at the end, despite being a working journalist and a journalist leader.

He said police officials questioned him five times, taking him from the police station's custody area to the desk of the concerned investigating officer to verify his identity and activities.

Earlier on Saturday afternoon, police detained Abu Jafar Surjo along with more than 50 others from the central office of the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) at the GPO intersection in Gulistan, Dhaka, and took them to Paltan Police Station.

Meanwhile, Abu Jafar Surjo posted a photograph of himself in handcuffs on his Facebook account, claiming that he and several others were detained while he was performing his professional duties at a JSD representative meeting. He said he was later taken to Paltan Police Station.

According to police, the operation was launched after they received information that activists of the banned Awami League were present at the JSD office, where a meeting was being held and slogans were allegedly raised.

DMP Media and Public Relations Division Deputy Commissioner Md Aktar Hossain said the detainees were taken to Paltan Police Station for preliminary questioning and identity verification.

Further action would be taken based on the findings of the investigation, he said.