DHAKA: Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chief Khaleda Zia criticized and protested the arrest of private satellite television channel Ekushey TV (ETV) chairman Abdus Salam.

She condemned the arrest in a statement sent to the media on Tuesday.

The statement said that freedom of expression and freedom to media are democratic rights in a civil society.

The incumbent government has snatched the rights of people, she claimed.

The BNP chief further said that earlier, the ruling Awami League had closed Bangla daily ‘Amar Desh’ and arrested its editor Mahmudur Rahman.

Besides, the government had also closed the transmissions of private television channels ‘Channel 1’, ‘Diganta TV’ and ‘Islamic TV’. The mass media is also under strict government control, she added.

Khaleda warned that this sort of illegal activities of suppressing the opposition hampers democracy.

However, ETV chairman Abdus Salam on Monday night was nabbed from his Karwan Bazar office in city and shown arrested in a case filed under Pornography Control Act.

BDST: 1407 HRS, JAN 06, 2015