(RSF/IFEX) – The following is a 23 August 2004 RSF press release: Investigative journalist murdered Armed men abducted and murdered journalist Kamal Hossain, of the daily Ajker Kagoj, on 22 August. He is the third journalist to be killed in Bangladesh since the beginning of the year. Expressing its deep shock, Reporters Without Borders called […]
(RSF/IFEX) – The following is a 23 August 2004 RSF press release:
Investigative journalist murdered
Armed men abducted and murdered journalist Kamal Hossain, of the daily Ajker Kagoj, on 22 August. He is the third journalist to be killed in Bangladesh since the beginning of the year.
Expressing its deep shock, Reporters Without Borders called on Home Affairs Minister Lutfuzzaman Babor to do everything possible to see that an investigation will uncover the identity of those responsible.
“The situation for the press in Bangladesh has become alarming. Not a week goes by without a journalist being attacked or threatened,” said the organisation.
Armed men burst into Hossain’s home overnight on 21-22 August. The journalist hid when he heard the attackers break in but gave himself up to them after they threatened to kill his two-year-old son. Police found the journalist’s body a few hours later two kilometres from his home.
His wife said that Hossain, who was also secretary general of the Manikchhari press club, had recently received death threats. He had been investigating cases linked to organised crime. A few days before his murder he had helped police to identify some gang members.
Journalists in Bangladesh are frequently the target of brutal attacks by political militants, criminal gangs or religious extremists.
Since 18 August, the daily Prothom Alo has received threats from several Islamist organisations angered by the newspaper’s exposure of Middle East funding for the religious schools, the madrasas.
Five journalists were injured in grenade attacks on the Awami League opposition party rally in Dhaka on 21 August.
According to RSF’s tally, four journalists have been assaulted since 13 August and more than 60 others have been threatened in less than one month.
