In the past month, a series of attacks on the media has caused the state of press freedom in Bangladesh to worsen. On 18 September 1996, S.M.Shamsul Alam, a correspondent with “Ajker Kagoj” in Rangamanti and a stringer for the Voice of America, and Shiek Mohammad Illias, a correspondent with “Dainik Al Mujadded”, were attacked […]
In the past month, a series of attacks on the media has caused
the state of press freedom in Bangladesh to worsen. On 18
September 1996, S.M.Shamsul Alam, a correspondent with “Ajker
Kagoj” in Rangamanti and a stringer for the Voice of America, and
Shiek Mohammad Illias, a correspondent with “Dainik Al Mujadded”,
were attacked around midnight while they were returning home on a
motorbike. A vehicle driven by a timber merchant deliberately ran
them down. The two journalists had been investigating illegal
timber extraction and trading.
On the evening of 16 September, unidentified persons hurled
home-made bombs at the home of Chita Gosh, a correspondent with
“Dainik Sangbad” in Dinajapur. Gosh was not home at the time, and
his family was not injured.
On 10 September in Dhaka, at least nine photojournalists were
injured by activists after a meeting of the opposition Bangladesh
Nationalist Party (BNP). The injured photographers were Rasid
Talukder of “Ittefaq”, Rafiqr Rahman of Reuters, Mahbub Hossain
Nabin of “Sangbad”, Borhanuddin of “Bangla Bazar Patrika”,
Shamsul Haq Tenku of “Bhorer Kagoj”, Bitu of “Inquilab”, Asad and
Shamim of “New Nation”, and Imran of “Daily Star”.
On 14 September, during a general strike backed by the BNP and
the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami, demonstrators pelted stones
against the home of A.K.M. Moqsud Ahmed, editor of “Dainik
Giridarpan”. A group of demonstrators later entered the newspaper
office and threatened the employees present.
On 7 September, Goutam Das, a correspondent with the daily
“Bhorer Kagoj” in Bangha, was assaulted by a police officer when
he attempted to cover a road accident. The officer was apparently
angry because of a story filed by the newspaper about the
deteriorating law and order situation under the police station’s
jurisdiction.
On 6 September, photojournalists who were covering the funeral of
the popular film star Salman Shah were assaulted by employees of
the Film Development Corporation. They blamed the media for
overplaying scandals which they allege damaged the actor’s
reputation and led him to commit suicide.
On 5 September, the magistrate of the district of Kushtia shut
down the weekly “Deshbroti”. The action was reportedly taken
because of articles published in the weekly on corruption in the
district administration.
On 4 September, a vehicle driven by Sunil Kanti Dey, a
correspondent with “Dainik Sangbad” in Rangamanti, was stopped by
BNP activists at Chandanaish on the Chittagong highway. He was in
the company of Dipankar Talukder, an Awami League member of
Parliament. The activists vandalised and torched the vehicle,
while Dey was assaulted and sustained a serious head injury.
On the evening of 28 August, the office of the Dhaka University
Journalists Association (DUJA) was fired upon. No members were
present at that time. A DUJA official said that some members of a
campus-based armed group were dissatisfied with recent reporting
of campus violence and may have been responsible for the
incident.
On 23 August, Nikhil Chaterjee, the Patuakhali district
correspondent for the Dhaka daily “Sangbad”, received death
threats after he started investigating irregular activities at
the local hospital. An unidentified person threatened him over
the telephone and ordered him to stop the investigation.
On 14 August, Malay Bhowmic, his wife and daughter received death
threats from an unidentified person. Bhowmic is a Rajshahi
district reporter for the daily “Sangbad”. The threats were made
just after he had published an investigative series on a special
project to develop an area in the north of Bangladesh called the
Barendra project. After the full report was published, the chief
executive of the project was dismissed from his position.
On 4 August, Manik Sarker, Rangpur correspondent with the daily
“Sangbad”, was attacked at the Rangpur Medical College Hospital
where he had gone to visit his father. He was seriously injured.
Inquiries indicate that a group of local smugglers, who were
annoyed by reports on their activities by Sarker, hired somebody
to attack the journalist. A complaint was filed, but nobody has
been arrested.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
journalists
incidents and those found responsible are properly punished
Appeals To
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed
Office of the Prime Minister
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Fax: +880 2 813 244 / 811 015 / 813 243
Rafiqul Islam
Minister of Home Affairs
Ministry of Home Affairs
Ramna, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Fax: +880 2 883 144
Lieutenant-General Mahbubur Rahman
Chief of Army Staff
Army Headquarters
Dhaka Cantonment
Dhaka, Bangladesh
President Abdur Rahman Biswas
Office of the President
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Fax: +880 2 869 160 (via Ministry of Foreign Affairs: mark
attention of President)
Please copy appeals to the originator if possible.
For further information, contact Barbara Vital-Durand at RSF, 5,
rue Geoffroy Marie, Paris 75009, France, tel:+33 1 44 83 84 84,
fax:+33 1 45 23 11 51, e-mail: rsf@calvanet.calvacom.fr.
