JULY 17, 2005
Posted: July 21, 2005
Alamgir Swapan, Janakantha
ATTACKED
Nur Siddiqui, Prothom Alo
Fuad Hossain, Ajker Kagoj
Emran Hossain Emon, The Daily Star
THREATENED
Close to 35 cadres of the ruling party’s student wing assaulted Swapan, staff reporter for the daily Janakantha newspaper, according to local news reports. The attack took place at Jahangirnagar University (JU) in the Savar cantonment, 19 miles (30 kilometers) from the capital, Dhaka. The Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) activists also threatened three other university correspondents with death, according to The Daily Star. They were Nur Siddiqui, JU correspondent of the Prothom Alo; Fuad Hossain JU correspondent of the Ajker Kagoj; and Emran Hossain Emon, JU correspondent of The Daily Star.
Swapan is a former university correspondent of the daily Janakantha and a history department student. As a student, Swapan had published several reports on the misdeeds of JCD members in the university campus. Local sources told CPJ that the attack appeared to be motivated by these reports.
The next day, journalists and activists from local media organizations and student groups held a sit-in at the university to protest the attack against Swapan. Protesters called for university authorities to ensure the security of its students and to punish those responsible for the attacks.