Arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport from Turkey

Journo leaders received him

UNB, Dhaka:

Mahmudur Rahman, the editor of Amar Desh, returned to Bangladesh on Friday morning after spending over five and a half years in exile.

He arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport from Turkey on a Qatar Airways flight at 9:20am.

Leaders from the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ), Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ), and Bangladesh Sammilita Peshajibi Parishad welcomed him at the airport. Around a thousand people, including students, gathered outside to receive him.

Upon exiting the airport, Mahmudur Rahman greeted his supporters from a convertible car, waving to the crowd. Addressing his supporters, he said: “Once, the youth of Bangladesh looked up to Che Guevara as a symbol of revolution, now they see Abu Sayeed as their ideal.”

Mahmudur Rahman reflected on his long-standing fight against what he called the “fascist Awami League government.”

He said that while political parties like BNP and Jamaat have struggled in their own ways, he fought alongside his Amar Desh family, waging an intellectual and cultural battle over the past 16 years.

According to Jahid Chowdhury, news editor of Amar Desh, Mahmudur Rahman returned to Bangladesh because his mother is seriously ill.

Rahman has faced numerous challenges for his journalistic work, including 124 cases filed against him by the Awami League government. In one case, both he and his wife were sentenced to seven years in prison.

He also endured police torture under false charges, having been arrested in June 2010 and again in April 2013, when the government shut down Amar Desh. Reports indicate that he was subjected to torture during his remand in custody.