Bangladesh

2012

  
Bangladeshi opposition supporters demonstrate in Dhaka on March 12 against an amendment introduced by the ruling party which scraps caretaker governments during elections. (AP/Aijaz Rahi)

Bangladesh backsliding on press freedom

“Bangladeshi democracy [may be] doomed to more of the same,” International Crisis Group wrote in a recent commentary. They are describing a longstanding pattern of antagonism between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League and the opposition Bangladesh National Party (BNP), which the Crisis Group describes as “a pernicious cycle of zero-sum politics.” If the political…

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Chinese official Jia Qinglin, fifth from left, hands over keys to the China-built African Union headquarters to AU Chairman and Equatorial Guinea President Theodoro Obiang. (AFP/Tony Karumba)

China not most censored, but may be most ambitious

China didn’t make the cut for our 10 most censored countries. While the Chinese Communist Party’s censorship apparatus is notorious, journalists and Internet users work hard to overcome the restrictions. Nations like Eritrea and North Korea lack that dynamism.

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Journalists demand justice for the murder of Meherun Runi and Golam Mustofa Sarowar. The banner says, 'Stop the attack on journalists.' (AP/Pavel Rahman)

Bangladeshi journalists call for justice in couple’s murder

On February 11, two Bangladeshi television journalists, Meherun Runi and her husband Golam Mustofa Sarowar, were murdered in their Dhaka home. Their 5-year-old son found their bodies. No arrests have yet been made and no motive has been publicly disclosed, although police claim they know why the couple was killed. Journalists have plenty of reason…

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2012