Media personnel are pictured near a gate of the High Court building as people protest outside the court demanding justice for the victims arrested and killed in the recent countrywide violence in Dhaka on July 31, 2024. Credit: Munir Uz Zaman / AFP)

Journalists in Bangladesh are not adequately protected; many times, journalists are subjected to violent attacks while performing their duties in adverse conditions. The Media and Communication Development Institute Group is working to strengthen the role of relevant stakeholders in data collection, analysis, and development in incidents of attacks on journalists and other harassment incidents.

The collective were trying to monitor the movement of journalists during the violence that erupted during the recent anti-discrimination student protests. Based on the news published in the media and the information received from journalists working in different districts, four journalists were killed in this violence.

Apart from the four journalists killed, at least three women journalists were molested while performing their professional duties. During this time, more than 200 media workers, including journalists and photo and video journalists, were injured.

Four journalists were killed

Thirty-two-year-old ATM Turab, a Sylhet correspondent of Naya Digant and daily Jalalabad newspaper, was shot dead in the line of duty on Friday, July 19. He had been working in journalism for ten years. Turab was the primary earner and his whole family depended on his income.

Mehdi Hasan, a senior reporter with Dhaka Times, was shot dead on Thursday, July 18, while on duty at Jatrabari in the capital.

Shakil Hossain, correspondent of Bhorer Awaz newspaper in Gazipur, was killed on the same day. He came to Dhaka and got caught in the ongoing violence in the city.

Former photojournalist Tahir Zaman Priyo of the online portal The Report was shot dead in Dhaka on July 20 and buried on July 21 at Nupur Graveyard in his native Rangpur district. He has a four-year-old daughter.

Affected mass media

During the student uprising on August 5, angry mobs vandalised and set fire to the offices of Time TV and Seventy-Eka TV in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. Both channels had to stop broadcasting due to the extensive damages to the offices. The ATN Bangla, ATN News were also shut down. Terrorists attacked and vandalised Dainik Bangladesh Pratid, Dainik Kaler Kanth and News 24 TV after attacking Basundhara Media House, the largest media house in Bangladesh.

Journalist arrested

After August 5, 2024, 42 journalists were blacklisted for the anti-discrimination student movement. Later, another 235 journalists were blacklisted on behalf of the organisation called Gon Adhikar. Most of them are supporters of the former Awami League government and members of the Journalists’ Forum of the Liberation Spirit.

TV journalist couple Shakil Ahmad and Farzana Rupa were arrested by the law enforcement forces from the airport as they were boarding their flight. Later, a murder case was filed against them, and they were sent into police remand and are currently in police custody.

Cases against journalists

On August 23, 24 murder charges were filed against seven top journalists of the country on behalf of the current interim government. The allegations against them were that they killed students during the student movement. The seven are Mozammel Babu, Editor-in-Chief of Ektar TV; Syed Ishtiaq Reza, Editor-in-Chief of Global TV; Shakeel Ahmad, News Chief of Ektar TV; Farzana Rupa, Chief Correspondent of Ektar TV; Munni Saha, ATN News Chief; Naimul Islam Khan, Editor of daily Amadeo New Time and Ahmad Zobair Chief Editor of Time TV.

Three female journalists were victims of molestation

Reshma, a staff reporter for the online daily Sojasapta, was subjected to physical abuse and molestation in the signboard area of ​​Narayanganj on July 20. She alleged that her face was set on fire with a gas lighter and her clothes were torn, and that she was raped.

Two other women journalists were with her at that time, and they were also attacked. However, the journalists did not want to reveal the names of her two companions.

More than two hundred journalists were injured

During the violence of the student movement, more than two hundred journalists were injured across the country, and their equipment, including cameras, was vandalised during the attacks.

Press Freedom Situation

Presently, Bangladesh’s press freedom situation is quite alarming. On August 29, another complaint was filed with the investigation agency of the International Crimes Tribunal against 52 individuals, including former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and more than two dozen senior journalists, on charges of committing crimes against humanity and genocide during the anti-discrimination student movement.

Lawyer MH Gazi Tamim filed the complaint on behalf of Golam Razzaque, father of Nasib Hasan Rihan a 17-year-old student of class XI at Mirpur BCIC College, who was shot dead in the capital’s Ring Road area in Shyamoli on August 5.

Rihan was shot in the face, head, and neck when law enforcers opened fire. He died on the spot, the lawyer said.

According to the complaint, the accused journalists were “sycophants” of the Awami League government. They published false news to instigate the genocide and crimes against humanity committed by the former government and law enforcers, thereby giving legitimacy to those crimes.

The journalists include Mozammel Babu, Nabanita Chowdhury, Subhash Singh Roy, Ahmed Zobair, Tushar Abdullah, Saiful Alam, Naeem Nizam, Farida Yasmin, Shyamol Dutta, Abden Khan, Prabash Amin, Farzana Rupa, Shakil Ahmed, Mithila Farzana, Zayadul Ahsan Pintu, Monjurul Islam, Ashish Saikat, Manash Ghosh, Pranab Saha, Masuda Bhatti, Munni Saha, JE Mamun, Swadesh Roy, Soma Islam, Shyamal Sarkar, and Ajay Das.

Deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina and three local journalists have been accused in a case over the death of a youth during the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement in Bogura.

The case was filed in Bogura Sadar Police Station by Shimu Begum, the wife of Md Shimul, who was killed during the Anti-discrimination Student Movement.

Last week, several cases were filed against journalist leaders in Rajshahi, Brahmanbaria, and Kusthia.

Demand for repeal of Cyber Security Act

The Forum for Freedom of Expression Bangladesh (FExB) urged the interim government to repeal the Cyber Security Act immediately and enact democratic, humane, people-friendly, and participatory laws and policies.

The Forum raised the demand at a press conference at Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU) in the capital on August 29.

“All the cases filed under the repressive Information and Communication Technology Act, 2006, Digital Security Act, 2018, and the Cyber Security Act, 2023, should be cancelled. The interim government should issue an ordinance and repeal the Cyber Security Act,” speakers said at the press conference.

They demanded the release of the victims of the Information and Communication Technology Act, Digital Security Act, and Cyber Security Act, adding that the Cyber Security Act cannot be amended in any way, it should be repealed.

The FExB general secretary Saleem Samad added that formulating the Cyber Security Act was illegal and that it was proposed without the people’s participation and the draft was quickly converted into law.BMSF Secretary General and Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) Treasurer Khairuzzaman Kamal, Secretary General of PEN International Bangladesh Centre Dr Syeda Aireen Jaman, Rezaur Rahman Lenin and Rezoan Islam also spoke at the press conference.

Khairuzzaman Kamal is a strong advocate for human rights and press freedom and serves as the BMSF Secretary General and Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) Treasurer.