"This is a plain abuse of authority," said secretary general Robert Ménard in a letter to home affairs minister Altaf Hossain Chowdhury. "How can a photographer endanger a judge¹s life just by taking pictures of such an event? We ask that you order his release and the dropping of charges against him."

Jahangir, who also works for the local paper Sonali Dangbad, was arrested on 1 November in the centre of the city as police, accompanied by a judge, Abdul Majid, were checking people¹s IDs. Despite the judge¹s order that he leave, he had taken pictures of an incident when one passer-by denounced the operation as ³police harassment." Police seized his camera, mobile phone and motorcycle and he was imprisoned as journalists went to the police station to ask why he has been detained.

The next day, a court refused to release him on bail and the authorities told his lawyer he had been arrested for endangering the judge¹s life, disobeying his orders and not presenting his driving licence and the log-book of the motorcycle, which police accused him of stealing. Local journalists¹ organisations staged a protest march on 2 November calling for his release.

Reporters Without Borders recorded 51 physical attacks on journalists, including a dozen murder attempts, in Bangladesh this year up to 5 August, along with 50 death threats, 13 arrests, 14 unjustified prosecutions and five kidnappings.

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