Two foreign journalists released; Bangladeshi journalists still detained
New York, December 11, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes today’s release of journalists Bruno Sorrentino and Zaiba Malik, who were working on a documentary for Britain’s Channel 4 “Unreported World” series. However, CPJ demands the immediate release of Bangladeshi free-lance journalists Priscilla Raj and Saleem Samad, who were working for the documentary team…
Detained journalists accused of anti-state activities
New York, November 26, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the arrest in Bangladesh yesterday of three journalists working on a documentary for Britain’s Channel 4 “Unreported World” series. Reporter Zaiba Malik, director and cameraman Bruno Sorrentino, and Priscilla Raj, a free-lance journalist working for the documentary team as an interpreter, were taken into…
Press Freedom Awards 2002 – Announcement
New York, October 22, 2002–The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) will present its 2002 International Press Freedom Awards to four journalists–from Colombia, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, and Eritrea–who have reported fearlessly on government malfeasance. They have survived brutal physical attack, endured death threats, defied criminal charges, and suffered imprisonment, all in reprisal for their work. The 12th…
Bangladesh: Journalist kidnapped, feared dead
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to request information about the status of the police investigation into the alleged kidnapping of Shukur Hossain, crime reporter for the Khulna-based newspaper Anirban. Hossain, who has been missing since July 5, is feared dead. At around midnight on July 5, a group of about 35 armed men kidnapped Hossain from his home in Ula, a village near the town of Dumuria in Khulna District. Police suspect the assailants belong to the outlawed Biplobi Communist Party, one of several guerrilla groups active in the southwest.
Bangladesh: CPJ condemns brutal attack on investigative journalist
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the recent attack on Nazmul Imam, Kushtia correspondent for the national Bengali-language daily Manavzamin. We call for an immediate and thorough investigation into this incident. At approximately 1:30 a.m. on May 28 about five men stopped Imam’s rickshaw as he was on his way home in Kushtia. According to several Bangladeshi and international news reports, after the men brandished knives, Imam gave them his wallet and cell phone. When he then tried to run away, one of the men shouted, “Catch the journalist.”
Bangladesh: Government bans Far Eastern Economic Review
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by your government’s ban on the April 4 edition of the Hong Kongbased weekly Far Eastern Economic Review. The cover story of the edition, “Bangladesh: Cocoon of Terror,” described the country as besieged by “Islamic fundamentalism, religious intolerance, militant Muslim groups with links to international terrorist groups, a powerful military with ties to the militants, the mushrooming of Islamic schools churning out radical students, middle-class apathy, poverty and lawlessness.”
Attacks on the Press 2001: Asia Analysis
Journalists across Asia faced extraordinary pressures in 2001. Risks included reporting on war and insurgency, covering crime and corruption, or simply expressing a dissenting view in an authoritarian state. CPJ’s two most striking indices of press freedom are the annual toll of journalists killed around the world and our list of journalists imprisoned at the…
Attacks on the Press 2001: Bangladesh
In 2001, the anti-corruption watchdog group Transparency International ranked Bangladesh the most corrupt country in the world. The almost complete collapse of law and order in the country was seen as one of the prime reasons behind the fall from power of the Awami League. The year began with a brutal attack on a young…
Attacks on the Press 2001: Journalists in Prison
There were 118 journalists in prison around the world at the end of 2001 who were jailed for practicing their profession. The number is up significantly from the previous year, when 81 journalists were in jail, and represents a return to the level of 1998, when 118 were also imprisoned.