User:Crtew/Press intimidation in Bangladesh

List of the press intimidation against journalists in Bangladesh is about incidents of intimidation that involve verbal threats, physical attacks, violent reactions, and murder, or that applies censorship, legal charges, imprisonment against journalists for publications, and other actions which imperil the ability of the press to inform the public or the safety of journalists while communicating this information within Bangladesh.


 * Bangladesh Chronicle publishes excerpt from a new book:




 * Bangladesh human rights group Odhikar denounced the frequent use of sedition and called for those laws to be removed in order to ensure freedom of expression and freedom of information.

Abuse of the Special Powers Act.

The top 25 newspapers:

According to Reporters Without Borders, the Bangladeshi "government or police authorities are responsible for this climate of intimidation."

Figures of deaths and injuries from 2009-2012.


 * Reporters Without Borders ranked Bangladesh 144th out of 179 countries on its annual Press Freedom Index.
 * Committee to Protect Journalists
 * International Federation of Journalists
 * Situation reports
 * about Sedition

Controversy
Amar Desh has had frequent run ins with the ruling Awami League government since it came to power in 2009 and the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a UK human rights group said Mahmudur Rahman was the target of "ongoing judicial harassment." Later, protesters began to demand Mahmudur Rahman's arrest.

In an interview with Daily Prime News, Mahmudur said, "... whenever the Awami League came to power it tried its best to gag the voice of media. After the country’s independence, during 1972-75 period, the AL kept only four newspapers as its mouthpiece for the party campaign closing publication of all newspapers. This is the basic characteristics of the AL and at that time all eminent editors had to go to jail. For instance Enayetullah Khan, Irfanul Bari, Al Mahmud, Aftab Ahmed – all had to go to jail."


 * In January 2010, Amar Desh was sued for defamation by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Energy Minister Tawfik-e-Elahi Chowdhury. Chowdury was reacting to a story published in Amar Desh in December that allegedly tied him to bribes from Cheveron. In all, various Awami League members filed 20 defamation charges against Amar Desh based on a 2009 article.


 * In June 2010, Mahmudur Rahman was arrested. At that time Reporters Without Borders issued the following statement: "The Awami League government is clearly unable to tolerate criticism from this opposition newspaper and, in particular, its coverage of the controversial award of energy contracts to foreign companies. Rahman was an advisor in these matters in the last BNP government and his revelations are damaging for the government."


 * On 1 June 2010, after 100-200 Bangladesh Police had surrounded the Amar Desh office for a day, police arrested its editor Mahmudur Rahman in the offices the next morning at 4 a.m. Rahman has edited the newspaper since 2008. Rahman said the publisher had been kidnapped by Bangladesh's National Security Intelligence and was released only after signing 2 blank papers. Journalist Syed Abdal Ahmed said the government had stopped the current issue that had already been printed from being delivered.


 * The leaders of around 25 newspapers signed a letter which demanded that the ban on Amar Desh be rescinded.


 * According to a statement issued by Rahman's lawyers, he was tortured by police on 9 June 2010, at the Cantonment Police Station where he was stripped and beaten until he was unconscious. When he was facing new charges in 2013, a representative from Amnesty International said, "Everyone, including Mahmudur Rahman, has the right to freedom of opinion and to seek, receive and impart information through any media. He has been previously detained and tortured for publishing articles in the public’s interest."


 * June 2010: The Awami League government filed charges of sedition against Amar Desh editor Mahmudur Rahman.


 * After a legal battle that went from the High Court and then to the Appeals Division, the courts both found in favor of Amar Desh and denied the government's case, which allowed for the newspaper's republication.


 * In August 2010, Mahmudur Rahman became the first citizen of Bangladesh ever to be sentenced for contempt by the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, which came with a six month prison term. Both the United Kingdom and the United States expressed diplomatic concerns about the legal development with the Awami League led government, of which Rahman had been a vocal political opponent. The court ruled that its reputation had been damaged by a report that said its rulings favored the Awami League government in power.


 * 17 March 2011, after serving 9 and a half months in the Gazipur district prison, Mahmudur Rahman was released and received by supporters.


 * December 2012, Amar Desh began publishing leaked Skype conversations from 9 December to 13 December between Justice Mohammed_Nizamul_Huq, the head judge for Bangladesh's International Criminal Court in Dhaka, and Ahmed Ziauddin, a lawyer in Brussels. As a result of the content in the leaked Skype conversations, Huq resigned from his post at the ICC 11 December. The New Age reported that Amar Desh published the materials until the court ruled that they should be held from public consumption.


 * 13 December 2012

The court took a number of steps to suppress any further publication of the Skype call materials between Huq and Ziauddin.


 * On Saturday, 23 February, Bangladesh Police made five charges against Amar Desh editor Mahmudur Rahman for inciting conservative muslims.


 * On 26 February Shabagh protesters took their demands that Amar Desh editor Mahmudur Rahman be charged with sedition. They were led by a blogger Imran H Sarkar, who was a former leader of an Awami League student group named Chhatra League. Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir, the Home Minister who was also representing the Awami League, assured the crowd that the government would again bring charges against and he also believed Rahman should be arrested and charged. At that time, Bangladesh Police were charging Rahman for inciting religious violence for his negative articles about the bloggers.


 * Amar Desh


 * Amar Desh and BNP part ways on India policy.

2009
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of the Awami League party takes office 6 January 2009.

May

 * The Naya Diganta daily is being sued for libel.

April

 * On 29 April, Shaptahik 2000 magazine journalist Foteh Osmani died in Sylhet from injuries that resulted from an attack from unknown attackers earlier earlier in the month.

May

 * The ruling government shut down TV station Channel 1.


 * Facebook blocked

June
See Amar Desh

January

 * Editor Farhad Khan and his wife were murdered in their home and possessions were stolen.

August

 * Bangladesh Police arrested the Mohammad Ekramul Haque publisher and editor of Sheershanews.com, a Bangladeshi online news site, for extortion, which colleagues say is a trumped up charge that is a backlash for exposés on government corruption.

Bob Dietz, who is a representative of the Committee to Protect Journalists in Asia, also said in response to Haque's arrest in the summer of 2011, "Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government has a record of not tolerating criticism from the media."

End of 2011
Censorship: A new Bangadeshi law censors media and prevents media outlets from criticizing government, the ruling party, or the censorship law itself. It also makes "misleading" information a charge.

January

 * On January 3, RTV journalist Aparna Sinha was covering a lawmaker's visit to the Monipur High School and College campus and extra fees there when the Awami League politican Kamal Ahmed Majumder attacked her while she was questioning him. The video her camera operator took shows Majumder reacting violently to her question about a scam. bdvdo


 * On January 4, it was reported that Judge Mohammed Nizamul Huq of Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal was critical of an article that appeared in the Naya Diganta, an opposition newspaper, and the newspaper's reporter Mehedy Hasan. She reported that a witness had a difficult time recognizing the dependent in the courtroom but Huq had a problem with his own qualifying statement that dismissed the witness's failure to recognize the witness. Huq criticized this as "false reporting" and he ordered a front page article to clarify his side of the story. The court is given powers to bring journalists before body if the court claims a report is misleading or that a report might harm the public's impression of the court or the process.

February

 * The Sagar-Runi Case: Sometime during the early morning hours of 11 February 2012, husband Sagar Sarowar, a TV news editor for Maasranga Television, and his wife Meherun Runi, a senior reporter for ATN Bangla, were brutally stabbed to death in their apartment while their only son slept in the next room. The murder of the high-profile television news couple was a sensational event in Bangladesh and the crime scene attracted upper-level police and national politicians. The Home Office Minister at the time made a public statement that the killers would be captured within 48 hours. Journalist organizations began protesting the day after the murder and continue to protest in a united fashion demanding results. The couple's murder is still unsolved.

March

 * On March 11 Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission threatened Ekushey Television (ETV) with a shutdown and fines for not being properly licensed, although ETV disputed the claim.
 * Censorship: A live speech on 12 March by Khaleda Zia, leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, was censored by the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission. The commission stopped Ekushey Television (ETV), Bangla Vision and Islamic TV from airing the opposition party's rally in Dhaka.


 * On 14 March, 19 journalists filed charges against officials of the local Awami League, the ruling party, for allegedly threatening to kill them if they reported negatively on their party's representatives in parliament again.

May

 * Bangladesh Police are accused of attacking three journalists, Zahidul Karim, Sajid Hossain and Khaled Sarker, while the journalists were covering a demonstration on 26 May. They all worked for Prothom Alo.


 * The offices of online news outlet bdnews24.com was attacked by a group of men carrying machetes in the Mohakhali area of Dhaka on 28 May, and resulted in 9 journalists injured. The New York-based CPJ, an NGO, condemned the attack. Three out of the 9 journalists were hospitalized.


 * On 29 May, three journalists who were reporting about a rape of a 15-year-old girl that was alleged to have been carried out by members of the Bangladesh Police were beaten. The journalists were MA Jalil Uzzal, Dainik Kaler Kantho; Tuhin Hawlader, Bangladesh Protidin; and Prasanta Kormokar, Prothom Alo.

June

 * Jamal Uddin, a reporter for Gramer Kagoj, was killed by a group on 15 June 2012 in the village of Kashipur, Jessore District. He had been reporting about drug rings around his community.

December
11 December, two photojournalists, Amran Hossain of the Daily Star and Sourav Laskar of New Age, were taken photos of a burning tire at protest when a police officer allegedly took them to a station and beat them.

January

 * Ka'aba controversy


 * An attempt on the life of Asif Mohiuddin, a blogger, was made on 14 January and after he was stabbed he was in critical condition at the hospital.


 * On 19 January 2013 the first verdict of Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal was handed down. Protests began over the verdict.

February

 * The Shahbag protests begin 5 February. The role of bloggers from Blogger and Online Activist Network were instrumental in starting the protests.


 * On 13 February, an attacker used a car to bump against the car driven by Sumon Mahbub, of bdnews24.com. The organization began receiving threats after it published a poll that showed support for banning the Jamaat-e-Islami.


 * Ahmed Rajib Haider, a blogger, was killed 15 February, a Friday, at his Dhaka home. His blog postings fueled the 2013 Shahbag protesters, who called for the banning of Jamaat-e-Islami, and Haider's postings also made anti-religious statements. Arrests were made on 2 March.


 * Shortly after Haider's murder, the Bangladeshi government began to block around 2 blogs and delete 10 blog posts that it claimed violated the country's Information Communication Technology Act by instilling religious hatred.


 * On 15 February, the opposition party Jamaat-e-Islami warned that the Awami League and its supporters had threatened Diganta Television, Amar Desh and Dainik Sangram and Islamic Television.

Between 18 and 23 journalists were injured in several incidents around Bangladesh on 22 February. Members of conservative religious groups attacked the journalists.


 * On Friday, 22 February, the location around the Jatiya press club and the Baitul Mukarram Mosque in Dhaka was the scene of a small riot as followers of the Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatra Shibir and made two separate attacks on media and clashed with police. During the first attack, camera operators from the following channels were hurt: ATN Bangla, ATN News, Maasranga, Ekattur TV and Independent Television. The second attack lasted 10 minutes and ended with television cameras destroyed. While covering the clashes between police and rioters at the mosque, one photographer and two reporters suffered injury. In all ten journalists were injured.


 * On Friday, 22 February, the Chittagong Press Club was ransacked and journalists were attacked. Perpetrators attacked and injured three reporters and two photographers during the riot. In retaliation, opponents of religious conservatives attacked the satellite offices in Chittagong belonging to Diganta Television, Amar Desh and Dainik Sangram.


 * On Friday, 22 February, in Jhenidah, one reporter was injured while covering struggles between the Bangladesh Chhatra League and Jamaat-e-Islami.


 * Students from the Shahbag movement stole newspapers from the stands and criticized the opposition newspapers -- the |BNP-leaning Amar Desh and the Jamaat-leaning Naya Diganta and Sangram newspapers for inciting religious violence.


 * On Saturday, 23 February, journalists demonstrated against the violence from the previous day and demanded authorities take action against the Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatra Shibir activists involved. Leaders also blamed the police for inaction and directing gun fire on journalists.

March

 * On 2 March, police arrested five North South University students for their alleged involvement in the murder of blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider.


 * On 2 March, police say 56 people have died as a result of national protests that began 19 January 2013.


 * On 7 March, blogger Saniur Rahman was stabbed after he got off a bus in front of a cinema.In his blog, he was critical of Jamaat-e-Islam and Islami Chattra Shibir.


 * Nayeemul Islam Khan, editor of the Bengali-language Amader Orthoneeti newspaper, was attacked with a molotov cocktail bomb by unknown source while driving with his wife through Dhaka late on 11 March. The IFJ said Khan had recently been visible through his recent television appearances and that the attack may have been planned. According to the CPJ, Khan's car was clearly identified with a press marking. In all, three were thrown and one struck his car causing the couple to go to the hospital.


 * The Chittagong Press Club offices were attacked on 12 March.


 * The Awami League-led government announced a surveillance campaign directed at Facebook and other social network websites for postings that are considered blasphemous. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina proposed the establishment of an Internet monitoring committee with the help of Bangladesh's intelligence services. Previously the government has been blocking websites. Religious political parties and groups have been protesting blasphemous posts by bloggers that have resulted in 8 deaths at the time of the proposal. Blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider was stabbed to death on 15 February 2013. National riots over country's war crimes trials have killed 56 people between 19 January 2013 and 2 March 2013.

April

 * On 4 April, the court agreed to hear the defamation case against Amar Desh editor Mahmudur Rahman, publisher Hasmat AliKader, reporters Gani Chowdhury and Jamil Chowhdhury, and NGO worker Grameen Janakalyan Sangstha. The Amar Desh story (published 31 March 2013) at the heart of the suit alleges former Railway Minister Suranjit Sengupta of the Awami League government took bribes from an orphanage.


 * On 24 April 2013, TV camera operators brought the case of their safety before the minister of information.