"You pray therefore you are"
Two journalists from the British Channel 4, Zaiba Malik and Bruno Sorrentino, along with producer Ruchira Gupta, came to Bangladesh in early November to produce a documentary on what they have said variously was the political situation, issue of identities, and other topics. However, their original visa application said they wanted to find out why a country that had secularism as one of its constitutional pillars had moved so far from its institutional ideal and become a sanctuary for Islamic extremists. They were denied visas twice by the government at the London embassy but managed to get tourist visas from the Bangladesh embassy in Italy. Once in Bangladesh, they hired a number of people to act as assistants and interpreters. Saleem Samad, a freelance journalist, professional 'fixer' for foreign media and representative of Reporter Sans Frontiers, was their point man.
While in Bangladesh, they went about shooting without bothering to hide their identity, although foreign journalists are not allowed into the country except on a special visa. Entering the country under false pretext constitutes an offence; the same law is in force in India and Pakistan. The focus of the filming team was on the rise of the 'Islamist trend', something being reported extensively by the Western and the Indian media. After shooting in various parts of Bangladesh, Malik and Sorrentino moved towards Jessore. Gupta had flown out earlier. Probably underestimating the tracking ability of the Bangladesh police, the two tried to cross over to India at the Benapole border. They were arrested along with Pricilla Raj, an NGO activist who has written extensively on development issues. This was 25 November.
Saleem Samad went into hiding but a phone call to his brother was traced and he was picked up from his hiding place and remanded by the police. According to evidence given by Raj, she was tortured and a confession was forced out of her, which she retracted in court. Samad too was reportedly tortured in custody.