Veteran journalist Amanullah Kabir has died at the age of 72.

He passed away at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) at 12.50am on Wednesday (Jan 16), his daughter Shovan Kabir told Bangla Tribune.

He was suffering from diabetes, liver diseases and other complications, his family said citing physicians.

He was admitted to Dhaka Central International Medical College in Shyamoli. Later he was shifted to Ibn Sina Hospital in Dhanmondi and then to the BSMMU when his condition deteriorated, added Shovan Kabir.

Born on Jan 24, 1947 in Jamalpur, Kabir worked with both Bangla and English news outlets over the course of his career.

A post graduate from the University of Dhaka in 1968, Amanullah Kabir rose through ranks to head the newsroom at The New Nation, then a major newspaper, in the 1980s and became the first news editor at The Daily Star founded by the late SM Ali.

In late 1991, he joined The Telegraph as Executive Editor, was part of the launch team as executive editor at The Independent, owned by Beximco, before becoming the Managing Director and Chief Editor at state-run Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS).

He was also the founding Editor of Daily Amar Desh.

The last leg — more than five years — of his nearly five-decade career was spent at bdnews24.com.

In the 1980s and 90s, he was elected president and secretary general of undivided unions of journalists, serving both the Dhaka Union of Journalists and the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists.

He was arguably the strongest voice for media freedom during the rule of military dictator Lt Gen HM Ershad.

Amanullah Kabir authored books such as 'The Struggling Democracy of Bangladesh', ‘Nodi o Ondhokarer Roop’, ‘Mukhoshbarhi’, ‘Nistabdhatar Matam’, and ‘Zilay Zilay Bhasa Andolan o Onyanyo Tothyo’.