Shafiqul Islam Kajol

(asked on 1st June 2020) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his Bangladeshi counterpart on journalist Shafiqul Islam Kajol who was arrested in that country after being found on the border with India having previously disappeared for 53 days.


Answered by
Nigel Adams Portrait
Nigel Adams
This question was answered on 4th June 2020

We continue to be concerned by government action against freedom of expression and Bangladesh remains a Human Rights Priority Country for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. We regularly engage with the Government of Bangladesh to address the full range of our human rights concerns, including freedom of expression. The Minister for South Asia stressed the importance of freedom of expression during a telephone call with Bangladesh's State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Shahriar Alam, on 18 May 2020. We have also made public statements urging the government to engage constructively with civil society and the media to ensure that legislation such as the Digital Security Act is implemented in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as the Constitution of Bangladesh. Our High Commissioner in Dhaka, alongside other local Ambassadors and High Commissioners, highlighted the global importance of access to information and freedom of expression in a tweet on 7 May 2020.

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