Police assault at least 9 Bangladeshi journalists covering Supreme Court Bar Association elections
New York, March 29, 2023 – Bangladeshi authorities must conduct a thorough and impartial investigation into the police attacks on at least nine journalists covering recent elections held by the Supreme Court Bar Association and hold the perpetrators accountable, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. On March 15, police assaulted at least nine journalists…
Bangladesh shutters newspaper run by political opposition party
New York, February 21, 2023–Dainik Dinkal, the newspaper of Bangladesh’s main opposition party, was forced to close on Monday after its printing license was canceled in what the outlet’s managing editor, Shamsur Rahman Shimul Biswas, said were invalid grounds. Dainik Dinkal suspended operations on February 20 after the Bangladesh Press Council, a quasi-judicial, government-funded body…
Historic judgment for Gautam Das murder in Bangladesh
Almost eight years have passed since the murder of Bangladeshi journalist Gautam Das, but the slow wheels of justice have finally rotated. Late last month, a court sentenced nine individuals to life in prison in connection with the scribe’s murder. Many local journalists have hailed the verdict as a landmark, the first time a Bangladeshi…
Editor of pro-opposition daily arrested in Bangladesh
New York, April 12, 2013–Amid growing political conflict that threatens even more violence in Bangladesh, an editor of a pro-opposition newspaper in Dhaka has been arrested on accusations of inciting religious tension, according to news reports. The editor faces earlier charges of sedition as well, the reports said.
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…