CPJ has called on Bangladesh authorities to investigate the killings of journalists Hasan Mehedi, Md. Shakil Hossain, and Abu Taher Md Turab and other attacks on reporters covering deadly nationwide protests over government job quotas.
“CPJ is deeply disturbed by the killing of journalists Hasan Mehedi, Md. Shakil Hossain, and Abu Taher Md Turab while they were reporting on the quota protests in Bangladesh,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Beh Lih Yi. “The Bangladesh government must hold to account those responsible for all assaults on journalists and fully restore internet and phone services to allow the free flow of information needed to cover matters of public interest.”
Bangladesh authorities imposed an internet shutdown and severely disrupted mobile services on July 18. Broadband internet was partially restored in limited areas on Tuesday evening, but mobile services and social media remained blocked as of July 26.
CPJ has confirmed attacks on at least 14 journalists and is continuing to investigate reports that dozens more have been assaulted either by police, protesters, or supporters of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of the ruling Awami League party. Of the 14, several required hospital treatment for injuries including head wounds.
Le Nouvelliste, Haiti’s oldest independent daily newspaper, has been around for 126 years, and the outlet’s owners are proud to have maintained its operations through the country’s intensifying challenges — from foreign occupation and devastating earthquakes to coups.
But now Le Nouvelliste’s survival — and that of more independent media outlets in the country — may be in grave danger after gang rule has descended the island nation into virtual lawlessness following the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021, writes David C. Adams.
Many media outlets have been forced to cut staff due to falling advertising and others say they are close to being forced out of business.
We defend the right of journalists to report the news safely and without fear of reprisal.