Bangladesh / Asia

The Committee to Protect Journalists on October 19 joined five civil society organizations in a letter urging Bangladesh’s interim government, led by Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus, to strengthen protection of human rights and press freedom ahead of the 2026 elections. In the joint letter, the groups commended reforms undertaken since the July Revolution that ended…

New Delhi, August 11, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Bangladeshi authorities to swiftly and thoroughly investigate the brutal killing of journalist Asaduzzaman Tuhin and bring all those responsible to justice. Tuhin, a staff reporter for the Bangla-language daily Protidiner Kagoj in Gazipur, a suburb of Dhaka, was chased and hacked to death by…

New York, August 1, 2025—On March 5, in a crowded Dhaka courtroom, journalist Farzana Rupa stood without a lawyer as a judge moved to register yet another murder case against her. Already in jail, she quietly asked for bail. The judge said the hearing was only procedural. “There are already a dozen cases piling up against me,” she said….

The Committee to Protect Journalists on March 21 joined eight other civil society organizations in expressing alarm over violence against the media and human rights defenders in Bangladesh, with at least 17 journalists attacked in February. An interim government took power in Bangladesh following the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August. The…

New York, February 14, 2025— Six months after a mass uprising ousted the increasingly autocratic administration of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladeshi journalists continue to be threatened and attacked for their work, along with facing new fears that planned legislation could undermine press freedom. Bangladesh’s interim government — established amid high hopes of political…

The Committee to Protect Journalists on Monday, November 11, wrote to Professor Muhammad Yunus urging him to protect press freedom in his role as chief adviser to the interim government of Bangladesh. On November 4, the interim information ministry announced that the Cyber Security Act would be repealed within a week. The law was passed…

New York, September 19, 2024—At least four Bangladeshi journalists who produced coverage seen as supportive of recently ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League party remain detained following the establishment of an interim government in August. “CPJ is alarmed by the apparently baseless criminal cases lodged against Bangladeshi journalists in retaliation for their…

New York, August 5, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the latest attacks on dozens of journalists covering anti-government protests in Bangladesh and calls on the country’s interim government to urgently ensure the safety of the media following Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s resignation on Monday. “All sides in Bangladesh must ensure that journalists can report…

Update: Since publication of this report, CPJ has learned that Md. Shakil Hossen was killed while attending a Dhaka student rally in his personal capacity, not reporting on a Gazipur protest as initial reports indicated. New York, July 26, 2024– The Committee to Protect Journalists has called on Bangladesh authorities to investigate the killings of…

Police and National Security Intelligence officers detained 32 Rohingyas, a stateless ethnic minority, for around 16 hours in Bangladesh’s southeast Cox’s Bazar region on May 17, 2024, on allegations of holding an unauthorized meeting of the Asia-Pacific Network of Refugees (APNOR), a region-wide network of civil society organizations and advocates. Officers questioned nearly all of…