(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has expressed shock over a campaign of violence and intimidation led by members of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) against journalists in the southern districts of Jhalakathi and Barisal. The organisation said it had registered 10 physical attacks on journalists, two attacks against newspapers, 10 complaints against journalists and four threats […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has expressed shock over a campaign of violence and intimidation led by members of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) against journalists in the southern districts of Jhalakathi and Barisal.
The organisation said it had registered 10 physical attacks on journalists, two attacks against newspapers, 10 complaints against journalists and four threats against families of journalists between 6 and 11 December 2003. In addition, the “Janakantha” and “Dakhinanchal” dailies are still banned in the region.
“The BNP’s activities against journalists in Jhalakathi and Barisal are threatening the press’s ability to freely cover key issues, such as the collusion between politicians and organised crime,” RSF said in a letter to Prime Minister Khaleda Zia.
The organisation called for the immediate arrest of Mir Ziauddin Mizan, the alleged leader of those carrying out the violent attacks. RSF also offered to provide the authorities with the names of some 20 other ruling party activists who have been implicated.
Both the justice and interior ministers were elected in these two districts, and the BNP activists involved in the violence claim to be acting on their behalf and to be protected by them.
Although the year is not yet complete, the information available to RSF suggests that in 2003, Bangladesh will yet again earn the title of being the world’s most dangerous country for journalists.
Dozens of members of the BNP and its youth wing, Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal, prevented the Jhalakathi Press Club from holding a meeting on 8 December and attacked at least seven journalists. The reporters had gathered to protest against a recent attack on Humayun Kabir, of the regional newspaper “Dakhinanchal”, in Jhalakathi, in which BNP members clubbed and stabbed him to “punish” him for a report about Mizan, the local head of the BNP and Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal. Kabir was hospitalised for several days.
Five local newspaper reporters were injured in the attack on the press club. They included Manabendra Batobayal of “Dainik Sangbad”, Azad Alauddin of “Dakhinanchal”, Shamim Ahmed and Shamim Azad of “Bhorer Kagoj”, and Akkas Sikder of “Dainik Arthaniti”. Barisal Lawyers’ Association Chairman Mominul Islam Mehdi and a driver who works for the Barisal journalists were also injured.
In the same incident, some 10 journalists were trapped for several hours inside the press club premises, because the BNP activists barred the doors. The activists also damaged the vehicles used by journalists from Barisal to join the meeting with their Jhalakathi colleagues. The police, who had earlier asked the journalists to cancel their demonstration, did not intervene to stop the violence.
The offices of the local daily “Shatakantha” were ransacked the same day. BNP members also threw stones at the home of Zahangir Hossain Monju, the newspaper’s editor, and cut his telephone lines. Monju had helped organise demonstrations in support of journalists who have been attacked.
Leaders of the BNP’s youth wing filed a complaint against 10 Jhalakathi journalists on 9 December, accusing them of “extortion” on the basis of false testimony. Anisur Rahman Swapan, the president of the Barisal Reporters Unity (BRU), said the police had become accomplices to the violence by registering the false complaints.
Those in charge of the Jhalakathi press club filed a complaint against their assailants, but the police have not made any arrests to date. The same day, BNP activists ransacked a shop belonging to the family of journalist Sikder, of “Dainik Arthaniti”.
Activists and police searched dozens of homes on 10 and 11 December in an attempt to arrest the 10 journalists cited in the trumped-up extortion case. Some of the homes were ransacked. The wanted journalists, who had received death threats by telephone, decided to go into hiding. BNP activists have meanwhile banned local distribution of the “Janakantha” and “Dakhinanchal” dailies. Their local correspondents, including Shawkat Milton, have also been told they cannot come to the district.
Journalists in the region have stepped up their protests as a result of the violence. Black flags have been put up at the offices of many news organisations.
