RSF Network
Press Release
13 May 2002
BANGLADESH
RSF and BCDJC condemn new attacks
on journalists by government supporters
Reporters Without Borders (Reporters
Sans Frontières - RSF) and the Bangladesh Centre for Development,
Journalism and Communication (BCDJC) protested today against new organised
attacks on the media by government supporters, calling for them to stop
and for those responsible to be punished. "The government¹s press
freedom policy has proved to be totally ineffective to judge by these renewed
attacks on journalists directly involving militant supporters of the ruling
party," said RSF secretary-general Robert Ménard in a joint letter
to Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia. "The government must end the impunity
enjoyed by those, including its own camp, who physically attack journalists,"
said the president of the BCDJC.
Since Begum Khaleda Zia came to
power, more than 80 journalists and photographers have been attacked or
threatened with death by supporters of the ruling coalition built around
the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islam.
Between 20 April and 2 May, two journalists were brutally attacked, six
received death threats and several news-stands were vandalised.
At the beginning of May, the press
club in the southern town of Motbaria was attacked by BNP supporters, who
fled when police arrived. A suit was filed by a BNP activist against
the club¹s president, Salam Azadi, and its secretary, Mizanur Rahman
Mizu, for having distributed photocopies of articles from Dhaka newspapers
which they said libelled lawmaker Rustam Ali Farazi and the prime minister.
Some dailies in the capital had reported that a girl had been raped by
the lawmaker¹s brother. Government supporters then attacked
news-stands and told vendors that if they sold or distributed copies of
three papers, Dainik Janakantha, Dainik Ittefaq and Prothom Alo, their
houses would be burned down. Some copies were seized and burned.
On 2 May, six daily newspaper journalists
Delwar Hossain (of Dainik Purbanchal), Sheikh Ahsanul Karim (Dainik
Manab Zamin), Rezaul Karim (Dainik Ittefaq), Babul Sardar (Dainik Janakantha),
S.M Tajjudin (Dainik Prabartan) and Azadul (Dainik Runner) were reportedly
threatened with death by Sheikh Wahiduzzaman Dipu, secretary of the local
BNP branch in the southwestern town of Bagerhat. All the journalists made
formal complaints. The BNP official is also said to have threatened
to blow up the offices of one of the papers, Dainik Purbanchal. Some of
his men went to the journalists¹ homes with guns and frightened their
families.
Jahangir Alam Akash, correspondent
in the northern town of Rajshahi for the daily paper Dainik Sangbad, was
attacked and stoned by BNP activists on 30 April on his way to a nearby
village to cover the visit there of a human rights group investigating
repression by BNP supporters in the region. He was injured, but managed
to escape and return to town, where police refused to receive his formal
complaint specifically mentioning he had been attacked by BNP supporters.
The journalist had written articles about BNP repression of the region¹s
minority Hindus.
On 20 April, Neaz Mohammad Khan
Bitu, correspondent in the eastern town of Brahmanbaria for the Dainik
Dinkal, was attacked by members of the BNP¹s student arm, Jatiyatabadi
Chattra Dal (JCD). The paper had recently published an article that
annoyed the local BNP secretary-general, Haji Syed Emran Reza. As
the journalist was on his way to a school, the JCD official grabbed him
by the scruff of the neck. When Bitu went to lodge a complaint with the
police, he was asked to write it down, but this was not accepted and the
officer phoned Reza. That evening, armed men sent by Reza broke into
the offices of the daily Dainik Projabandhu, dragged the journalist outside
and kicked, beat and stabbed him. He was left for dead and taken
to hospital. Police arrested several suspects over the next few days,
but Reza was not troubled.
Reporters Without Borders will shortly
publish a report on its recent 3-10 March fact-finding mission to Bangladesh.
Reporters Sans Frontières
defends jailed journalists and press freedom throughout the world, that
is, the right to inform and be informed, in accordance with Article 19
of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Reporters Sans Frontières
has nine sections (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden
and Switzerland and United Kingdom), representatives in Abidjan, Bangkok,
Montréal, Tokyo and Washington, and about a hundred correspondents
worldwide
BCDJC is a journalists NGO that
monitors the situation of press freedom in Bangladesh. BCDJC promotes independent
journalism and organises seminars and debates regarding media issues.
Vincent Brossel
Asia - Pacific Desk
Reporters Sans Frontières
5 rue Geoffroy Marie
75009 Paris
33 1 44 83 84 70
33 1 45 23 11 51 (fax)
asia@rsf.org
www.rsf.org
BCDJC
53 Central Road (2nd floor)
Dhanmondi Dhaka 1205 Bangladesh
Tel : 88 02 862 0539
Fax: 88 02 861 6977
E-mail : bcdjc@citechco.net
Web : www.bcdjc.org
RSF
Asia-Pacific Desk
5, rue Geoffroy Marie - 75009 Paris
France
Tel : (33) 1 44 83 84 70
Fax : (33) 1 45 23 11 51
E-mail : asia@rsf.fr
Web : www.rsf.org
www.press-freedom.org
