Sheikh Belaluddin

Rioting kicked off a three-month electoral season in October as the ruling Bangladesh National Party (BNP) was accused of bias in the installation of an interim government and election commissioner. Fears of physical attacks against a politically divided press corps deepened along with the political crisis, as leaders of the rival Awami League threatened to boycott the general election scheduled for January 2007. Journalists were tasked with covering a time of great uncertainty: President Iajuddin Ahmed, formerly a ceremonial head, installed himself as chief of a caretaker government and warned that the military could be brought in to quell violence.

December 15, 2006

Dr. Iajuddin Ahmed
President, People's Republic of Bangladesh
Chief Advisor to the Government of Bangladesh
Bangabhaban, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Via facsimile: 88-2-9566242

Your Excellency:

The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about threats and attacks against journalists in the run-up to general elections scheduled for January 23, 2007. We urge you to do everything in your power as leader of the interim government to ensure that assaults on the press are adequately investigated and punished, and that journalists are free to report on the election campaign without fear of retribution.

BANGLADESH

Bangladesh was mired in a political crisis heightened by the wide-scale August 17 attacks by Islamic militants involving hundreds of small, near-simultaneous bombings throughout the nation. Journalists covering the bombings and their aftermath said they were more vulnerable than ever to violent reprisals.

Bangladesh was already one of the most dangerous countries for the press in Asia, according to CPJ research. Even by that poor standard, death threats and physical attacks against journalists spiked in 2005. Traditional enemies of the press such as criminal gangs, underground leftist groups, police, politicians, and student activists continued to lash out at journalists. The newer and potentially graver threat from radical Islamist groups exacerbated the treacherous landscape.

The Five Most Murderous Countries for Journalists

Your Excellency:

One year after the Committee to Protect Journalists conducted a fact-finding mission to Bangladesh in response to a pattern of violence against the press, death threats and deadly attacks against journalists continue at an alarming rate. You offered assurances last year that the press in Bangladesh "enjoys full press freedom," but that freedom is at great risk today. We are deeply concerned about this press freedom crisis, and join with our Bangladeshi colleagues in calling for swift and decisive action to stanch this relentless tide of violence against journalists.

FEBRUARY 11, 2005
Posted: February 14, 2005

Sheikh Belaluddin, Sangram
KILLED—CONFIRMED

Belaluddin, a correspondent with the Bengali-language daily Sangram, died at around 10 a.m. of injuries sustained in a bomb attack on February 5. The bomb exploded at a press club in the city of Khulna. The bomb, which was hidden in a bag hanging from a motorcycle, detonated at around 9:15 p.m. as Belaluddin approached the vehicle.

New York, February 11, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists mourns the death of Bangladeshi journalist Sheikh Belaluddin, who died at around 10 a.m. today of injuries sustained in a bomb attack last week.

Belaluddin, a correspondent with the Bengali-language daily Sangram, was injured along with three other journalists on February 5, when a bomb exploded at a press club in the city of Khulna. The bomb, which was hidden in a bag hanging from a motorcycle, detonated at around 9:15 p.m. as Belaluddin approached the vehicle.