(Media Watch/IFEX) – The following alert was compiled from Media Watch press releases dated 2 and 3 March 2002: Harunur Rashid (alias Khokan), a senior staff reporter from the daily “Dainik Purbanchal”, was shot dead on Saturday 2 March 2002, at around 8:00 p.m. (local time), by unidentified assailants in the southern divisional headquarters of […]
(Media Watch/IFEX) – The following alert was compiled from Media Watch press releases dated 2 and 3 March 2002:
Harunur Rashid (alias Khokan), a senior staff reporter from the daily “Dainik Purbanchal”, was shot dead on Saturday 2 March 2002, at around 8:00 p.m. (local time), by unidentified assailants in the southern divisional headquarters of Khulna.
Local sources said that Rashid left his Deana village residence of Daulatpur by motorbike at around 7:20 p.m. He was on his way to “Dainik Purbanchal”‘s Iqbalnagar office. Eyewitnesses said a gunman fired shots at the journalist as he drove in front of Mujgunni Nesaria Madrasha, at around 7:45 p.m. A bullet hit the left side of his chest. Pedestrians rushed Rashid to Khalishpur Clinic, where doctors pronounced him dead at around 8:00 p.m.
On Sunday 3 March, the journalism community in Khulna announced a seven-day programme to protest the journalist’s killing.
The Khulna Press Club, Khulna Journalists’ Union and Khulna Metropolitan Journalists’ Union jointly announced that the seven-day programme would include a day-long strike in Khulna on 4 March. Among other activities planned, the programme is to include a protest rally, meetings, the wearing of black badges and the submitting of formal protests.
Rashid was buried in his village home on 3 March. Prior to his funeral, his body was taken to the local press club, where all political parties, journalists’ organisations and members of civil society paid their respects to him.
Also on 3 March, police arrested three alleged terrorists in connection with the case. Police officials said the three suspects were arrested in the city’s Daulatpur and Khalishpur areas. Police sent them to court, seeking a seven-day remand. The arrested individuals were identified as Humayun Kabir, Nuruzzaman (alias Sohel) and Mohammad Aslam.
Police said Kabir is an active member of the outlawed Purba Banglar Communist Party. He was arrested earlier for his alleged involvement in terrorist activities. Nuruzzaman is a known terrorist from the region. He was arrested by police a few months ago under the Public Safety Act. Police added that he is also a suspect in another Jessore district criminal case. The third suspect, Aslam, had a dispute over land with a close relative of Rashid’s and had recently threatened the journalist with “dire consequences,” police added.
Several organisations condemned Rashid’s murder and demanded an exemplary punishment for his killers. In separate statements, the organisations described the journalist’s killing by terrorists as an attack on freedom of expression. They also urged the authorities to take measures to stop such incidents in the future. Organisations that condemned the journalist’s killing included Dhaka Reporters’ Unity, Odhikar, Ain O Salish Kendro, the Bangladesh Society for the Enforcement of Human Rights and the Bangladesh Development Journalists’ Association.
Rashid, aged 44, leaves behind a wife, daughter and son and a host of admirers. He was an active member of the Khulna Journalists Union (KUJ) and the Khulna Press Club.
Rashid’s killing brings to ten the number of journalists who have been killed in five south-western districts of Bangladesh over the past seven years. All the journalists were killed principally for their professional activities and reports against extremist groups, smugglers’ rackets and underground political parties.
Abdul Gaffar of the Jessore-based daily “Muktodarshan” was the first ill-fated journalist. He was killed in 1995. Other killed journalists have included Mohammed Faruk of the Jessore-based “Daily Runner”, Bazlur Rahman of the Chuadanga-based daily “Din Badolaer Pala”, Kaligonj (Jessore) Press Club General Secretary Rezaul Islam, “Dainik Runner” editor Saiful Islam Mukul, Illias Hossain Dilip of the Jhenidah-based “Bir Darpan”, Sathkhira-based daily “Patrodoot” editor S.M. Liakat, Rahman, the Jessore-based senior reporter from the national daily “Janakantha Shamsur”, and Nahar Ali of the Dumuria (Khulna) daily “Anirban”.
