New York, June 2 (IANS) A leading international press freedom group on Tuesday urged Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman to begin delivering on his electoral promise to protect media freedom in the country, calling for an end to “partisan persecution of journalists” following his government’s first 100 days in office.
Expressing concern, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) cited a report by Bangladesh’s newspaper The Daily Star, which revealed that police were conducting background checks and profiling journalists across the country.
“Press freedom in Bangladesh has too often been treated as an opportunity for each new government to turn the law against journalists allegedly aligned with the previous administration. Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s government pledged to be different—but 100 days in, meaningful progress remains limited,” said Kunal Majumder, CPJ Asia-Pacific Program Coordinator.
“The government can start by releasing imprisoned journalists and dropping politically motivated cases, ending political vendettas against the press, protecting journalists from mob violence, halting smear campaigns, and fixing laws that make all of this possible. These steps would ensure the same standard is applied to every journalist, regardless of who they are perceived to support. That is what breaking the cycle looks like,” he added.
Calling for an end to the use of the criminal justice system against media professionals in Bangladesh, the CPJ said that dozens of journalists whose coverage was perceived as supportive of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have been detained or charged since August 2024.
It further highlighted that Bangladeshi authorities frequently use First Information Reports—documents that initiate investigations—to pursue cases against journalists, with many such complaints naming hundreds of people or unidentified suspects, while multiple cases are filed against individual journalists, making it difficult to secure bail.
“The most well-known cases are those of Farzana Rupa, Shakil Ahmed, and Mozammel Babu from the Bengali-language broadcaster Ekattor TV and Shyamal Dutta of the Bengali-language daily Bhorer Kagoj—all of whom have been detained since August or September 2024. On May 11 this year, the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh granted Rupa and Ahmed bail in most cases against them, but they remain in detention for other cases,” the CPJ mentioned.
“On May 28, the day Rahman marked 100 days in office, an Editors’ Council delegation handed the government a list of 282 journalists facing politically motivated cases,” it added.
The organisation also called on the Bangladeshi authorities to stop using the Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) to target journalists. It stated that the ICT—a domestic court established in 2010 to prosecute war crimes committed during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War—is increasingly being deployed against journalists for their editorial work.
“At least 25 journalists are under ICT investigation, in many cases for genocide or crimes against humanity tied to their alleged support for the Hasina government,” it noted.
The CPJ called on the Bangladeshi government to affirm that “independent journalism is a constitutional right and a democratic necessity” and ensure accountability for those who incite violence against the press through vilification.
–IANS
scor/ksk/as