(Media Watch/IFEX) – The following is a 4 March 2002 Media Watch press release: JOURNALISTS UNDER THREAT / PHYSICALLY ASSAULTED At least one journalist has received death threats from a group of terrorists who are believed to be members of the ruling party in Chittagong. Another journalist was physically assaulted in the southern district of […]
(Media Watch/IFEX) – The following is a 4 March 2002 Media Watch press release:
JOURNALISTS UNDER THREAT / PHYSICALLY ASSAULTED
At least one journalist has received death threats from a group of terrorists who are believed to be members of the ruling party in Chittagong. Another journalist was physically assaulted in the southern district of Jhalkathi.
1. Rafiqul Bahar, a senior reporter from the daily Prothom Alo in the divisional city of Chittagong, received a death threat from a group of terrorists believed to be members of the ruling party. On 3 March 2002, a terrorist group sent a written threat with a piece of cloth (used in funerals) to Rafiqul Bahar’s office in Chittagong. In a written statement, the terrorist group said, “within one week, the fate of Rafiqul Bahar will be the same as Harun-ar-Rashid of Khulna” (Rashid was shot dead on 2 March in Khulna).
The threat came just after a news item was published in the daily Prothom Alo on 26 February. On 25 February, the deputy home minister and another minister met with the local administration to discuss the law and order situation. It was later discovered that a wanted terrorist belonging to the ruling party also attended the meeting. Press photographers took pictures and the following day, 26 February, all major newspapers, including the daily Prothom Alo, carried the headline, “Wanted Terrorist Attended Meeting with Minister”. In Prothom Alo, the report was published under Rafiqul Bahar’s byline.
After publishing the news, the minister commented on the journalists’ professionalism and blamed the police. The leader of the ruling party’s local chapter, however, was critical of the journalists and tried to protect the terrorist. In a written statement, the secretary-general of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party, BNP, Chittagong branch, Mr. Dastagir Chowdhury, warned journalists that they should stop “misreporting” against his party and its members. Otherwise, Chowdhury warned, his party members would start a campaign against journalists and a boycott of their newspapers.
2. In a separate incident, a group of terrorists tried to kill Shamyol Sarker, the Jhalkathi district correspondent of the daily Ajker Kagoj. A group of local terrorists was angry with him for his recent reporting. To take revenge, the terrorist group kidnapped him on 2 March, took him to a nearby pond and tried to drown him, but he finally escaped. A general diary was filed at the local police station.
