DHAKA, Nov 30: Lawyers for European journalists arrested for alleged anti-state activities in Bangladesh were unable to meet them for the second time on Saturday, one of the lawyers said.

“We got court permission on Thursday to meet them and we tried to meet them on Friday and twice again today,” lawyer Mohammad Saifullah said.

Briton Zaiba Malik and Bruno Sorrentino of Italy were arrested on Monday as they tried to leave Bangladesh for India after filming a programme for Britain’s Channel 4 television station.

The two journalists have been charged with “anti-state activities,” which could carry a death sentence.

Authorities at the border seized documents and film from the Channel 4 journalists that “intended to tarnish the image of Bangladesh,” according to police.

A Bangladesh government statement said Malik and Sorrentino were arrested for being “involved in clandestine activities as journalists with an apparent and malicious intent of portraying Bangladesh as an Islamic fanatical country.”

Saifullah said the lawyers will file a writ Sunday seeking bail for Malik and Sorrentino when they are produced in court at the end of five days of questioning.

Police said the lawyers could only meet the journalists if they were sent a copy of the court order.

A Dhaka magistrate Thursday ordered authorities to allow authorised diplomats and lawyers to see the detained journalists, although he did not specify a timeframe.

Selim Samad, a Bangladeshi freelance journalist who worked with the crew as a guide, was arrested Friday and remanded in custody for five days.

Samad represents the Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Sans Frontiers (Reporters Without Borders, RSF) in Bangladesh.

Meanwhile pro-opposition journalist union factions Saturday “strongly condemned” the arrests.

“The journalists community will build a strong resistance against undemocratic activities of the government, if local and foreign journalists are not released immediately,” the factions of the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists and Dhaka Union of Journalists said in a statement.

RSF has strongly condemned the arrest of Samad and urged the international community, especially the European Union, “to take a very firm position” on the issue.

Rights group Amnesty International (AI) expressed concern for the safety of the British and Italian journalists and two Bangladeshi aides.

The AI urged Prime Minister Khaleda Zia to ensure the four detainees were “not subjected to torture or ill-treatment.” —AFP