<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222;">The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) of Bangladesh has denied that the journalist Md. Shamsuzzaman was arrested as he wrote about 'cost of living in Bangladesh'. In a statement issued on Saturday, the MoFA said that the report by a few international media and institutions about the arrest of the journalist is 'totally false and fabricated'. It said a journalist was arrested because of 'child abuse' and 'child exploitation'. The MoFA statement said that the journalist offered ten taka to a 9-year-old boy and then expressed his own views in the name of that child which is surely an act of child abuse and exploitation.</span></p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"> <span style="color: #222222;"> </span></p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222;"> The MoFA further said that Shamsuzzaman tried to undermine the independence of Bangladesh on the great Independence Day. These acts are surely tantamount to punishable crimes. The Government of Bangladesh is committed to uphold freedom of expression for all its citizens and the media. However, creating social unrest by undertaking such fraudulent acts is contrary to the spirit of honest journalism, said the statement.</span></p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"> </p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222;"> Journalist Shamsuzzaman working for Bangladesh's largest circulation daily Prothom Alo was detained under the controversial Digital Security Act (DSA) on 29 March for his story published on the independence day of Bangladesh on March 26. The story showed a young boy saying 'What will I do with my independence if I can't afford food? We need the independence of rice, fish and meat.' Later it came to light that the journalist had paid Taka 10 to the young boy whose purported statement was used.</span></p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"> <span style="color: #222222;"> </span></p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222;"> The report was called a 'false, fabricated and ill-motivated' by Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan. The journalist was sent to jail after a local court denied him bail. A case was also registered against the editor of Prothom Alo in connection with the same case. </span></p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">  </p>