Former Kuakata Press Club Secretary and journalist Zahirul Islam Miron was attacked outside his home on February 5, the latest in a slew of attacks against media workers across Bangladesh. Credit: Facebook

At least four incidents of assaults against Bangladesh journalists have been reported in the last 15 days, with more than six journalists injured within the past week.

In the early morning of February 5, journalist Zahirul Islam Miron, Kuakata correspondent of Banglavision and former general secretary of Kuakata Press Club, was attacked and severely injured by a group of unidentified people outside his house in the southern Bangladeshi town of Kuakata in Patuakhali’s Kalapara upazila. Miron was treated for his injuries at Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital in Barishal, where he is recovering. Following the attack, local journalists formed a human chain and staged a demonstration to protest the attack at the Kuakata Press Club.

Another incident occurred on the same day in which several journalists were allegedly attacked by members of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party on the premises of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh in Dhaka, while gathered for a press release concerning a High Court verdict acquitting previously convicted individuals in a 1994 alleged assassination attempt against then-opposition leader and ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Several journalists were injured, allegedly by political activists, while ATN News Senior Reporter Zabed Akhter was seriously injured and admitted to Islami Bank Central Hospital in Kakrail.

On February 3,  Shariatpur-based journalists Sohag Khan Sujan of Samakal, Bidhan Mojumder Oni of New24 Television, Nayan Das of Bangla TV, and Saiful Islam Akash of Desh TV were attacked and injured by a group of unknown people in front of the Shariatpur District’s Deputy Commissioner’s Office south of Dhaka. The journalists reportedly had a disagreement with the hospital’s owner over an article alleging doctor negligence, after which the owner and other individuals attacked the media workers with knives and hammers.

Officer-in-charge Helal Uddin of Palang model police station said that no case was filed at his police station, and no arrests were made at the time of filing the report.

The BHRJA said: “The Bangladesh Human Rights Journalists Association (BHRJA condemns the rising attacks on the media and calls on the government to take action to protect journalists working in the field.”

The IFJ said:“Journalists must be free to report on issues in the public interest, and it is the mandate of the interim government to uphold press freedom. Authorities must not only ensure the safety of media workers, but hold those responsible for these assaults to account.”