(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has voiced outrage at the action of a parliamentary representative of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in beating Manjur Morshed, the correspondent of a national daily, with a cane on 9 August 2005 in the southern city of Baufal. The attack left the journalist seriously injured. The legislator’s supporters also attacked […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has voiced outrage at the action of a parliamentary representative of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in beating Manjur Morshed, the correspondent of a national daily, with a cane on 9 August 2005 in the southern city of Baufal. The attack left the journalist seriously injured. The legislator’s supporters also attacked and threatened other journalists in Baufal.
“It is shocking to see a ruling party legislator beat and threaten a journalist and behave like a gangster, and we call for an investigation and swift sanctions,” the organisation said in a letter to Home Affairs Minister Lutfozzaman Babor.
The letter continued, “As long as he is not punished by the courts and his party, his name will stay on our press freedom violators’ blacklist of those responsible for physical attacks and censorship.”
The parliamentarian concerned is Shahidul Alam Talukder, a local BNP leader in Baufal. Ten of his thugs kidnapped Morshed from his place of work on 9 August and took him to Talukder, who personally administered the beating. The action was prompted by an article in the national daily “Jugantor” the previous day implicating Talukder in a corruption scandal. The president and general secretary of the local press club were also beaten when they tried to intervene. The journalist was released during the night, covered with bruises.
Morshed is a former correspondent of the “Ajker Kagoj” daily and is currently in the process of becoming a “Jugantor” correspondent.
When reached by phone, Talukder denied using any violence. “I never beat him,” he told RSF. But his supporters have continued to threaten journalists in Baufal, parading outside the press club. Many terrified journalists have fled the city. Jubilant BNP activists slaughtered a goat at the home of one of Talukder’s friends to celebrate their victory.
The police did not intervene to protect the journalists. One police officer, Nur Muhammad, went to the home of several correspondents and threatened to bring false charges against them if they continued to protest about Talukder.
Two days before Morshed’s beating, “Daily Ajker Barta” reporter Shimul Chowdhury was assaulted by a businessman linked to Hafiz Hibrahim, a local BNP leader and parliamentary representative for the southern city of Bhola, after reporting on corruption cases. The police refused to register his complaint because of his assailant’s identity.
