In a 12 November 1999 letter to Bangladeshi Home Affairs Minister Mohammed Nasim, RSF protested an attack on a photographer. He was the third journalist injured by riot police this past week. RSF asked Nasim to enforce the law and to control the police’s behaviour. RSF also reminded him that “it is the duty of […]
In a 12 November 1999 letter to Bangladeshi Home Affairs Minister Mohammed
Nasim, RSF protested an attack on a photographer. He was the third
journalist injured by riot police this past week. RSF asked Nasim to enforce
the law and to control the police’s behaviour. RSF also reminded him that
“it is the duty of your ministry to protect journalists who are just trying
to do their jobs and to identify and punish those responsible for the
attacks.”
**Correction to IFEX alert of 12 November 1999. Updates IFEX alerts of 3
November and 27 October 1999**
On 8 November, Mahe Alam James, a press photographer, received bullet wounds
when police fired gun shots at close range on demonstrators led by the
opposition alliance in the capital, Dhaka. The incident took place on the
second day of a country-wide general strike. Just as the photographer was
taking a picture, police attempted to disperse the activists’ demonstration.
The political activists became violent and riot police indiscriminately
fired bullets and shotgun pellets, seriously wounding several people,
including two members of parliament and a former cabinet minister. Mahe Alam
James, bleeding from injuries to his head, was taken to hospital.
