(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has written to Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, calling for the immediate release of journalist Hiramon Mondol, who was viciously assaulted by police officers in the southwestern city of Khulna on 8 August 2003. He has since been held in the Khulna prison infirmary. The organisation also called for the dismissal of the […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has written to Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, calling for the immediate release of journalist Hiramon Mondol, who was viciously assaulted by police officers in the southwestern city of Khulna on 8 August 2003. He has since been held in the Khulna prison infirmary. The organisation also called for the dismissal of the patently false charge of theft that has been brought against Mondol.
A local correspondent for the daily “Dainik Prabarttan”, Mondol was attacked by a group of police officers, including members of a special unit assigned to combat organised crime and far-left activists. The officers beat Mondol with batons, hockey sticks and rifles and took him, bound hand and foot, to Paikgacha camp before transferring him to the prison infirmary.
The assault came just a few days after Mondol wrote an article about the theft of fish from Baroyariya market. The perpetrators were reportedly members of the special force. The journalist is now being prosecuted for theft under a draconian “speedy trial” procedure introduced in 2002, which gives the accused no time to prepare a defence.
On 16 August, Mondol’s newspaper, which supports the government, said it intended to circulate a petition for his release.
RSF is extremely concerned by the constant increase in violence against the press in recent months in Bangladesh, one of the few countries where journalists face violence and open hostility from political leaders and police on a daily basis.
Since the beginning of the year, RSF has registered 51 physical attacks against journalists (including 10 attempted killings), 50 death threats, 13 arrests, 14 abusive lawsuits and prosecutions and five abductions.
