(RSF/IFEX) – RSF and the Bangladesh Centre for Development, Journalism and Communication (BCDJC) have called on Bangladesh’s interior minister and other authorities to obtain the release of a journalist who was arrested without a warrant in the southeastern town of Cox’s Bazar on 14 February 2004. Abdul Mahbud Mahu, of the local daily “Ajker Desh […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF and the Bangladesh Centre for Development, Journalism and Communication (BCDJC) have called on Bangladesh’s interior minister and other authorities to obtain the release of a journalist who was arrested without a warrant in the southeastern town of Cox’s Bazar on 14 February 2004. Abdul Mahbud Mahu, of the local daily “Ajker Desh Bidesh”, was arrested following pressure by a local leader of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) who objected to his critical articles.
RSF and the BCDJC also protested the misuse of the Special Powers Act to arrest Mahu, who was simply exercising his right to inform. Adopted in 2002, this emergency law allows the police to hold a suspect until trial. Journalists in Cox’s Bazar have met with the local authorities, including the police chief, to demand Mahu’s release.
Mahu’s arrest occurred against a backdrop of further violence and threats against journalists. RSF and the BCDJC have registered 26 cases of death threats and physical attacks against journalists since the 15 January murder of BBC World Service stringer Manik Saha (see IFEX alerts of 27 and 15 January 2004).
The organisations criticised the government and its supporters for continuing to endanger the lives of dozens of journalists and restrict their right to report the news. RSF and the BCDJC also deplored the government’s failure to react to Saha’s death by adopting measures aimed at halting the violence.
On 16 February, the far-left armed group Purba Bangla Sarbahara issued letters threatening to kill six journalists in the northern town of Gaibandha. The letters gave the journalists 30 days to cease “conspiring” against the group, failing which they would be “killed between 3 and 5 p.m. by militants who have already infiltrated the city.” The journalists have asked for police protection.
On 12 February, members of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD), the student wing of the ruling BNP, beat up Mokarram Hossain Suvo, “Prothom Alo” daily’s Dhaka University correspondent, while he was holding a discussion with other journalists about a column by his editor criticising the BNP’s failure to control the JCD.
On 9 February, Masadur Raham, a civil servant in the eastern district of Bakshiganj, threatened to kill three journalists in the town of Jamalpur after they wrote about his alleged involvement in corruption cases.
On 7 February, Iqbal Hasan, a correspondent for the daily “Janakantha” in the northern town of Natore, was attacked outside his home by 20 armed BNP members, who fled after neighbours intervened (see alert of 12 February 2004). Hasan had just written about the torching of the homes of 16 supporters of the opposition Awami League by members of Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal, the BNP’s youth wing.
On 6 February, 11 members of the press club in the western town of Rajshahi received death threats in a letter from the Purbo Banglar Communist Party (PBCP). The PBCP accused the journalists of lying about the party and called them “associates of class enemies” (see alert of 12 February 2004). The letter added, “Our party’s guerrillas have already killed journalist Manik Saha and will kill you one by one in the coming months.” The press club has been placed under police protection.
That same day, as freelance journalist Zahirul Huq Makhan was going home in Dhaka, he was intercepted on a street by men who told him to stop writing if he “did not want to lose his life.”
Also on 6 February, M.A. Awal, the editor of local weekly “Narsinghdir Kagoj”, received a death threat via telephone after publishing an article about a real estate company’s illegal activities.
On 3 February, Prabir Shikder, the daily “Janakantha”‘s staff reporter in the western town of Faridpur, was chased by a car and three motorcycles. He escaped his pursuers by mingling with a crowd of Muslim worshippers and then sought help from police. Shikder previously had a leg amputated in 2001 following an attack prompted by his reports about an influential businessman (see alerts of 25 and 24 April 2001).
On 24 January, photojournalist Shahinur Rahman Bimu, of the daily newspaper “Jugantor”, was attacked in Pakulla (in the northern district of Sonatola) by Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal activists as he was taking a photograph of a building that was constructed illegally. A lawyer was also beaten when he tried to help Bimu.
