M Abdullah, joint editor of Amar Desh and president of the Bangladesh Association of Journalists, donated Tk100,000 to the July Martyrs Memorial Foundation. The donation was handed over on Tuesday afternoon, July 28, at the Amar Desh office in Karwan Bazar, Dhaka. Samsi Ara Zaman, the foundation’s general secretary and mother of July martyr journalist Tahir Zaman Priyo, received it with senior accounts and finance officer Md Harun-or-Rashid.

Mahmudur Rahman, joint convener of the National Editors Council and Amar Desh editor, managing editor Zahed Chowdhury, sports editor M M Kaiser and staff reporter Mahmud Ashik attended the handover. Abdullah is also a former president of the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists and a former managing director of the Bangladesh Journalists Welfare Trust.

The foundation was formed to remember those killed in the July movement and has undertaken initiatives for martyrs’ families and injured July fighters. It has faced financial hardship, and its officers and employees have not received salaries for the past five months. After learning of the crisis at the foundation’s theme song launch, Abdullah announced he would donate one month’s salary. He urged people from all sections of society to support martyrs’ families, while Samsi Ara Zaman expressed gratitude.