Propaganda on social media against journalist Samsuzzaman

Prothom Alo staff correspondent Samsuzzaman is being subjected to false propaganda in social media, which contains a fake statement using the name of Prothom Alo executive editor Sajjad Sharif.

An illustration with a photo of Sajjad Sharif went viral on social media on Wednesday. It reads, “It’s not Prothom Alo’s responsibility, it’s Samsuzzaman’s liability.”

Speaking regarding this, Prothom Alo executive editor Sajjad Sharif said, “It is propaganda. I have not given any such statement. A fake statement is being spread using my photo deliberately.”

Samsuzzaman works as a staff correspondent at Prothom Alo. He works in Savar, on the outskirts of capital Dhaka. Earlier, several plainclothesmen identifying themselves as members of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) picked up Samsuzzaman, from his house in Savar near Jahangirnagar University early Wednesday.

Home minister Asaduzzaman Khan, later, told the newspersons that a case was filed against Samsuzzaman. It has been learnt that certain Golam Kibria lodged the case under the Digital Security Act with the Tejgaon police station in Dhaka at 2:15am on Wednesday.

A report of Prothom Alo staff correspondent Samsuzzaman regarding the price hike of daily essentials has drawn much discussion lately. While publishing that report on social media Facebook, a ‘card’ with a quote from day-labourer Zakir Hossain was attached with the post. Although Zakir Hossain was given the attribution, a photo of a child was used in the card mistakenly.

Within 17 minutes of publishing the Facebook post, the inconsistency was noticed and it was removed promptly. At the same time, the report was corrected and was republished with a disclaimer regarding the correction. The report never said that the quote was of that child in the photo. Rather, it was clear in the report that it was a quote from day-labourer Zakir Hossain.

Speaking regarding the case filed over this, Prothom Alo executive editor Sajjad Sharif said, “We will follow the legal procedures in this regard.”