Bangladesh / Asia

  
People read newspapers in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on January 30, 2019. Journalist Shafiqul Islam Kajol recently went missing after he was named in a criminal defamation suit. (Reuters/Mohammad Ponir Hossain)

Journalist missing in Bangladesh following defamation suit

Washington, D.C., March 13, 2020 — Bangladesh authorities should spare no effort to locate missing journalist Shafiqul Islam Kajol, and should not allow a criminal defamation case to proceed against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Election posters in Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka, on January 29, 2020. Several journalists were attacked and harassed while covering polling in the city on February 1. (AFP/Munir Uz Zaman)

Journalists covering elections in Dhaka, Bangladesh attacked, harassed

New York, February 4, 2020—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by reports that several journalists were attacked, threatened, or had equipment taken while covering elections in Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital, on February 1.

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The head office of Bangladeshi telecommunications company Bangalink is seen in Dhaka on October 26, 2016. The Sweden-based news website Netra News was recently blocked throughout Bangladesh. (AP/A.M. Ahad)

Bangladesh blocks Sweden-based news website Netra News

Beginning on December 28, 2019, Bangladeshi authorities have blocked domestic connections to Netra News, a recently launched news website based in Sweden, according to a report by Qatari broadcaster Al-Jazeera and Netra News editor-in-chief Tasneem Khalil, who wrote to CPJ via email.

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A man reads a newspaper in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on December 31, 2018. Police recently arrested and detained newspaper editor Abdul Asad. (AP/Anupam Nath)

Bangladeshi court orders 3-day detention of editor Abul Asad

New York, December 16, 2019 — Bangladeshi authorities should immediately release editor Abul Asad and must protect news outlets so they can report freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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People read a newspaper carrying headlines of the general election results in Dhaka on December 31, 2018. Several journalists were attacked and one was detained while covering the vote. (AFP/Indranil Mukherjee)

Journalist arrested, others beaten during Bangladesh elections

New York, January 2, 2019–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Bangladeshi authorities to immediately release Hedait Hossain Molla, a reporter who was arrested in Khulna yesterday in relation to his election coverage, according to news reports.

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Reuters journalist Kyaw Soe Oo is led handcuffed from a court in Yangon in September. He and colleague Wa Lone are serving seven-year prison sentences in Myanmar. (Reuters/Ann Wang)

Hundreds of journalists jailed globally becomes the new normal

For the third year in a row, 251 or more journalists are jailed around the world, suggesting the authoritarian approach to critical news coverage is more than a temporary spike. China, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia imprisoned more journalists than last year, and Turkey remained the world’s worst jailer. A CPJ special report by Elana Beiser

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A tribute to victims of an April 2018 suicide attack in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul, that killed at least nine journalists. (AP/Rahmat Gul)

Getting Away with Murder

CPJ’s 2018 Global Impunity Index spotlights countries where journalists are slain and their killers go free By Elisabeth Witchel, CPJ Impunity Campaign Consultant Impunity is entrenched in 14 nations, according to CPJ’s 2018 Global Impunity Index, which ranks states with the worst records of prosecuting the killers of journalists.

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CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon talks about global press freedom violations during a Press Behind Bars panel at the U.N. (Reuters)

CPJ’s Joel Simon speaks at Press Behind Bars panel

Committee to Protect Journalists Executive Director Joel Simon addressed a panel event at the 73rd session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York on September 28, 2018. The event highlighted global press freedom violations and the jailing of journalists in countries around the world, with a specific focus on cases in Egypt, Kyrgyzstan, Bangladesh,…

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Live Stream – Press Behind Bars: Undermining Justice and Democracy

Event scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. EDT on Friday, September 28, 2018. Committee to Protect Journalists Executive Director Joel Simon, Reuters President and CPJ board member Stephen J. Adler, and human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, who represents the imprisoned Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, speak on a panel at the 73rd…

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CPJ urges Bangladesh’s president to return Digital Security Act to Parliament for revision

The CPJ expresses concern about the Digital Security Act that was passed on September 18 by the Parliament of Bangladesh, and urges President Abdul Hamid to return it to Parliament for review. CPJ is concerned that the legislation, if allowed to become law, would violate constitutional guarantees of freedom of the press, and would create extensive legal dangers for journalists in the normal course of carrying out their professional activities.

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