Journalist couple Shakil Ahmed and Farzana Rupa detained

Journalists Shakil Ahmed and Farzana Rupa have been detained from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA).

Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) detained the couple today, Wednesday, confirmed the airport sources.

Shakil Ahmed is a former head of news of the private channel Ekattor TV and his wife Farzana Rupa is a former principal correspondent and anchor of the same TV channel.

They were sacked from Ekattor TV on 8 August after the fall of Sheikh Hasina government.

They were scheduled to depart from Dhaka airport on Wednesday morning on a Turkish Airlines flight to Paris, France, via Istanbul. They secured permission to fly from several intelligence agencies and immigration authorities.

But a DB team went to the airport and informed the authorities concerned that the couple had a case against them at a police station in the city. The DB took them for interrogation in the case. Shakil and Farzana were accompanied by their daughter.

DB sources said the journalist couple has been taken to DB office at Minto Road.

In a statement issued by Mustafa Azad on behalf of Ekattor TV’s managing director on 8 August, the authorities dismissed the two journalists.