Who Is Rozina Islam? The Bangladeshi Journalist Arrested For Violating A Colonial-era Law

Rozina Islam, who is an investigative journalist, and a senior correspondent for Prothom Alo, Bangladesh's largest newspaper, was detained late on Monday under the Official Secrets Act.

According to the police, the journalist has been charged under Sections 385 and 411 of the Penal Code, and Sections 3 and 5 of the Official Secrets Act. She reportedly used her mobile phone to click pictures of documents related to government negotiations to buy coronavirus vaccines.

Prothom Alo reported that the case was filed on Monday night at the Shahbagh police station, and allegedly comes as a retaliation for her reporting on the mismanagement and corruption in the health sector. Islam has been, reportedly, critical of corruption in the country's health sector.

Journalist Rozina Islam is being taken to jail #RozinaIslam https://t.co/K9kYomRsfz

— Prothom Alo (@ProthomAlo) May 18, 2021

Who is Rozina Islam? Here are 8 things about Rozina's case that we know so far:

1. The journalist is known for her strong reporting on official corruption involving ministers of the country.
2. Many of Islam's stories drew attention recently to the millions of dollars that were spent in procuring emergency health equipment to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.
3. One of her stories was about how the urgent medical equipment that was important in treating the patients were left at the Dhaka airport for months.
4. Islam also wrote about the alleged bribes that were being offered to recruit doctors, and how the procurement at the Health Ministry was plagued with corruption.
5. Islam's sister Sabina Parvin alleged that the senior correspondent was confined in a room of a Personal Assistant of the Secretary of the Ministry of Health for more than five hours on Monday.
6. She was later handed over to the police under the charges of theft and photographing of sensitive state documents.
7. According to her family, Islam was physically and mentally harassed by the officials during her confinement.
8. According to Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)’s senior Asia researcher Aliya Iftikhar, the law that is used to detain Islam is a colonial-era law that carries "ridiculously harsh penalties".