CPJ protests series of attacks and threats against journalists
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is greatly alarmed by a series of recent threats and attacks against journalists in Bangladesh and urges your government to take immediate action to ensure that these crimes are prosecuted vigorously.
Journalist brutally attacked
New York, June 27, 2003— The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the recent violent attack on Abul Bashar, the local correspondent for the Bengali-language national daily newspaper Janakantha (The People’s Voice) in Shariatpur district, which is located in southern Bangladesh. According to several local sources and Bashar, himself, members of the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal…
Journalists who disappeared
CPJ research indicates that the following journalists have disappeared while doing their work. Although some of them are feared dead, no bodies have been found, and they are therefore not classified as “Killed.” If a journalist disappeared after being held in government custody, CPJ classifies him or her as “Imprisoned” as a way to hold…
Kidnapped journalist found aliveAnother journalist remains imprisoned
New York, May 21, 2003—Atahar Siddik Khasru, a reporter for the national Bengali-language daily Ittefaq who had been missing for three weeks, was found early this morning by a village roadside, his hands and feet bound by heavy chains secured with a padlock. A villager spotted Khasru’s body at around 5:30 a.m. and alerted local…
One journalist missing, another arrested
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about several recent attacks against the press in Sitakunda, an industrial town in Chittagong District, in southeastern Bangladesh. We are particularly worried about the fate of journalist Mahmudul Haq, who was arrested on May 6, and journalist Atahar Siddik Khasru, who disappeared on April…
Attacks on the Press 2002: Asia Analysis
The vicious murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan focused international attention on the dangers faced by journalists covering the U.S. “war on terror,” yet most attacks on journalists in Asia happened far from the eyes of the international press. In countries such as Bangladesh and the Philippines, reporters covering crime and…
Attacks on the Press 2002: North Korea
Shortly after U.S. president George W. Bush arrived in South Korea’s capital, Seoul, in February 2002 for a state visit, the North Korean state news agency, KCNA, reported a miracle: that a cloud in the shape of a Kimjongilia, the flower named after the country’s leader, Kim Jong Il, had appeared over North Korea. “Even…
Journalist threatened with arrest
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about the safety of Shawkat Milton, a reporter for the Bengali-language national daily Janakantha who went into hiding on March 14 after learning that police were about to arrest him. The journalist had been covering campaign abuses committed by officials in the run-up to…
One journalist released; another remains in detention
New York, January 8, 2003—Journalist and human rights activist Shahriar Kabir, who had been detained for one month on suspicion of conducting “anti-state activities,” was released yesterday. However, another journalist, Saleem Samad, who was also accused of conducting “anti-state activities,” remains in custody despite a High Court order to release him on bail. Samad was…