(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has expressed outrage at the impunity with which journalists are being routinely attacked in Bangladesh after a gang of drug traffickers viciously beat a reporter, leaving him unconscious on the road. Azaharul Islam Montu, a correspondent for the daily “Grammer Kagoj”, based in Ashasuni Upazila, Satkhira district, southwest Bangladesh, was attacked and […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has expressed outrage at the impunity with which journalists are being routinely attacked in Bangladesh after a gang of drug traffickers viciously beat a reporter, leaving him unconscious on the road.
Azaharul Islam Montu, a correspondent for the daily “Grammer Kagoj”, based in Ashasuni Upazila, Satkhira district, southwest Bangladesh, was attacked and left seriously injured on 19 September 2004. Despite the gravity of the assault, his attackers will more than likely escape punishment because of the protection of powerful local figures, said the organisation.
“Every week, local gangs attack with impunity journalists who challenge them,” RSF said. “The government can no longer tolerate this violence against journalists or it will lose all credibility on the international scene.”
Montu was taken to hospital with serious injuries after he was found unconscious on the road. The attack came only days after his newspaper, “Grammer Kagoj”, published his investigative report on local drug trafficking.
On 22 September, according to information obtained by RSF, police refused to open an investigation into the assault after a Member of Parliament for the ruling Nationalist Party of Bangladesh (BNP) allegedly used his influence to ensure that police did not investigate the case. The parliamentarian reportedly insisted that he would “settle things amicably” with the journalist.
Since the beginning of 2004, RSF has recorded more than 20 cases of physical attacks or threats against journalists by the BNP or its various wings. Political militants and criminals who attack journalists most often do so with complete impunity.
