(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to the head of the caretaker government, Latifur Rahman, RSF urged the authorities to arrest and punish the Islamic militants who tried to kill journalist Abdul Kalam Mahmud Azad, who works in Bagha. “It is not the first time that fundamentalists have attacked journalists in this part of the country. […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to the head of the caretaker government, Latifur Rahman, RSF urged the authorities to arrest and punish the Islamic militants who tried to kill journalist Abdul Kalam Mahmud Azad, who works in Bagha. “It is not the first time that fundamentalists have attacked journalists in this part of the country. The government must take urgent steps to stop the violence,” said RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard.
According to information obtained by RSF, Abdul Kalam Mahmud Azad, correspondent for the newspaper “Prothom Alo” in Bagha (near Rajshahi, north-west of the country), was a victim of attempted murder on 4 August 2001 by armed members of the Islami Chattra Shibir, the student branch of the Jamaat-e-Islami party. While he was riding his bicycle in the centre of the town, on his way home, a dozen young activists attacked him with knives and iron rods. Left for dead by the assailants, the journalist was taken by passers-by to the local hospital. He was later transferred to Rajshahi hospital. He is still being treated there for cuts and bruises but his life is not in danger. The day before the attack, “Prothom Alo” had published an article on its back page written by the journalist in which he reported on acts of vandalism committed by fundamentalist activists in a Hindu village. The villagers had to leave their homes fearing new attacks. The article implicated two local Islamist leaders, Jinnat and Quader.
In July 2000, two other journalists, Mhabub Alam, correspondent for “Dainik Dinkal”, and Jahangir Alam Aakash, correspondent for “Dainik Sangbad” in Rajshahi, received death threats after reporting on violence by Islami Chattra Shibir members.
