On March 15, police assaulted at least nine journalists on the court’s premises in the capital city of Dhaka after clashes broke out between lawyers supporting the ruling Awami League party and the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, and police charged into the crowd swinging their batons, according to multiple news reports and five of those journalists, who spoke with CPJ.

The deputy commissioner of the Dhaka police’s Ramna division told news website Bdnews24.com later on March 15 that “journalists got caught up in the turmoil” when officers attempted to break up the unrest, and police were investigating the attacks.

On March 16, Dhaka police officials expressed regret over the incident in a meeting with local journalists but, as of March 29, have not held any of the officers involved in the attacks to account, the journalists told CPJ. 

“The recent apology by the Dhaka police over officers’ attacks on at least nine Bangladeshi journalists is a welcome but insufficient response,” said Carlos Martinez de la Serna, CPJ’s program director. “Bangladeshi authorities must hold the officers who attacked journalists to account, return any equipment confiscated from reporters, and ensure that police are thoroughly trained so they can help, rather than imperil, members of the press covering newsworthy events.”

Two officers with the police Public Order Management Division slapped Zabed Akhter, a senior reporter for the privately owned broadcaster ATN News, shoved him to the ground, and kicked him as he repeatedly identified himself as a journalist and told them he suffered from a nerve condition, Akhter told CPJ by phone.

Police also pushed Jannatul Ferdous Tanvi, a senior reporter for the privately owned broadcaster Independent Television, as she tried to help him, Akhter said.

Later that day, Akhter received medical treatment for internal injuries to his waist and back at a hospital, where the two officers apologized to the journalist, Akhter said, adding that those officers had not been held to account for the incident as of March 29.

A group of 10 to 15 officers kicked and used a bamboo stick to beat Md. Humaun Kabir, a senior camera operator for the privately owned broadcaster ATN Bangla who was filming the unrest, knocking him to the ground, Kabir told CPJ by phone. Officers continued to slap him as he ran away, according to a video of the incident reviewed by CPJ. Kabir sustained a head injury for which he took painkillers. 

Five or six officers beat Maruf Hasan, a reporter for the privately owned newspaper Manab Zamin, in the head and back while he identified himself as a journalist, he told CPJ via messaging app.  Officers also insulted him with vulgar language and confiscated his microphone, which they had not returned as of March 29, Hasan said.

He told CPJ that he sustained painful injuries to the areas that were beaten.

About five police officers also beat Mohammad Fazlul Haque, a senior reporter for the privately owned news website Jago News, according to Haque, who told CPJ via messaging app that he had been beaten but then did not respond to additional questions seeking details.  

According to those news reports and the journalists who spoke with CPJ, police also attacked Nur Mohammad, a reporter for the privately owned newspaper Ajker Patrika; Ibrahim Hossain, a camera operator for the privately owned broadcaster Boishakhi Television; Kabir Hossain, a reporter for the privately owned newspaper Kalbela; and Mehedi Hassan Dalim, a reporter for the privately owned news website The Dhaka Post.

CPJ contacted those journalists via messaging app seeking additional details but did not receive any replies.

Suvra Kanti Das, a senior photojournalist for the privately owned newspaper Prothom Alo, told CPJ by phone that he was also covering the elections when an officer grabbed him by the shirt, demanded to see his media identification card, insulted him with vulgar language, and ordered him to leave the premises, which he did.

CPJ’s calls and messages to Roy Niyati, a spokesperson for the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, did not receive any replies.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

At around 11 a.m. on Monday, January 23, plainclothes police officers detained Kha, a correspondent for the privately owned broadcaster Deepto TV and privately owned newspaper Dainik Projonmo Ekattor, according to multiple news reports and Supriya Rani Kha, the journalist’s wife, who spoke with CPJ by phone. Kha was detained after reporting on a land dispute in the Khalishakhali area of the southwestern Satkhira district.

Police arrested Kha and two others, alleging they were involved in an attempted bomb blast in coordination with landless people in the area, and authorities initially denied that Kha was in custody, according to those sources.

When the journalist appeared in court the following day, he was unable to stand properly and told his wife that police severely beat him, electrocuted him, and threatened to kill him if he continued reporting on landless people, Supriya Rani Kha told CPJ.

During that hearing, the court ordered Kha to be held in the Satkhira jail while his case is investigated. Supriya Rani Kha said that police have not provided copies of the first information reports in Kha’s case, which would show the specific allegations against him.

“Bangladeshi authorities’ arrest and alleged maltreatment of journalist Raghunath Kha constitute only the latest attack on press freedom in the country, where law enforcement continues to retaliate against journalists with raging impunity,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “Authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Kha, drop all cases against him, and conduct a swift investigation into claims that police physically abused him.”

Authorities did not produce Kha in court until about 5 p.m. on Tuesday, his wife said, in apparent violation of Bangladesh’s code of criminal procedure, which provides that police must present an arrested person before a magistrate within 24 hours.

Supriya Rani Kha told CPJ that she believes authorities targeted her husband in retaliation for his reporting highlighting the struggles of landless people in their conflict with land grabbers allegedly supported by police.

In recent months, Satkhira Police Superintendent Kazi Moniruzzaman repeatedly threatened Kha with arrest and legal retaliation in retaliation for his reporting, his wife said, adding that the journalist submitted a written complaint sometime about those threats to Moinul Haque, the deputy inspector-general of the Khulna division police, which oversees the Satkhira branch of the force.

No action was taken against Moniruzzaman, Supriya Rani Kha told CPJ. CPJ emailed Moniruzzaman and Haque and sent them requests for comment via messaging app, but did not receive any replies.

CPJ has previously documented similar allegations of alleged police abuse of detained journalists in Bangladesh. Journalist Shahidul Alam, who was awarded CPJ’s International Press Freedom Award in 2020, told CPJ that police officers beat him in custody. Cartoonist Kabir Kishore told CPJ that authorities beat him and electrocuted his colleague Mushtaq Ahmed, who died in jail.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

A Rangamati magistrate granted Elahi interim bail on June 8, pending an additional hearing at the Chittagong Cyber Tribunal, which adjudicates alleged cybercrime offenses, where he was granted permanent bail on June 14, according to a report in the Dhaka Tribune and the journalist. The next hearing in his case is scheduled for July 31, Elahi said.

Police arrested Elahi in relation to a December 3, 2020, article he published in Pahar24, which detailed alleged irregularities concerning a property rented by Nazneen Anwar, daughter of Furoza Begum Chinu, a former member of parliament with the ruling Awami League and head of the Rangamati District Women’s Awami League, according to those reports and the journalist.

On December 8, 2020, Chinu and Anwar each filed separate complaints, which CPJ reviewed, against Elahi in relation to his article, alleging that the journalist had defamed them, Elahi said.

On March 15, 2021, the Rangamati police submitted a report to a magistrate, which CPJ reviewed, stating that they investigated Elahi under sections of the Digital Security Act related to defamation and publishing offensive, false, or threatening information after receiving those complaints. The police report said it would allow the court to decide a course of action.

On June 7, 2022, the Chittagong Cyber Tribunal issued a warrant for Elahi’s arrest, which CPJ reviewed, under unspecified sections of the Digital Security Act.

Elahi was taken to Rangamati’s Kotwali police station after his June 7 arrest, he said, adding that Anwar was at the scene and demanded the officers put him in a cell when he was placed in a chair in the front office. When reached by phone by CPJ, Anwar said she had asked officers why Elahi was allowed to use his phone in custody.

Anwar told CPJ that she stands by the allegations in the complaint. Chinu did not respond to CPJ’s text message requesting comment. Kabir Hossain, officer-in-charge at the Kotwali police station, did not respond to CPJ’s request for comment sent via messaging app.

In a separate case, on June 7, 2022, the Khulna Cyber Tribunal accepted a police chargesheet that had been filed on August 31, 2021, against Abu Tayeb, Khulna bureau chief for the privately owned broadcaster NTV, and Subir Rana, a reporter for the privately owned newspaper Daily Loksamaj and privately owned news website New Age, according to a copy of the chargesheet, which CPJ reviewed, and the two journalists, who spoke with CPJ by phone.

A hearing in their case is scheduled for September 20, according to Tayeb. The chargesheet accuses the journalists of violating sections of the Digital Security Act related to the publication of offensive, false, or threatening information; defamation; and deterioration of law and order. Those offenses can carry a prison sentence between three and seven years, and a fine of between 300,000 taka (US$3,230) and 600,000 taka (US$6,460).

The chargesheet accuses Tayeb and Rana of violating the Digital Security Act with Facebook posts they each published in April 2021 accusing a local company affiliated with Talukder Abdul Khalek, mayor of the Khulna City Corporation, a municipal agency that oversees the development and maintenance of the city, of evading taxes.

Tayeb made those allegations both in a report for NTV and on his Facebook page, and Rana also published the allegations on his page, according to CPJ research, both journalists, and a screenshot of the posts, which CPJ reviewed. Tayeb told CPJ that within 24 hours after the article and Facebook post were published, Khalek called him and ordered him to remove the report and the post, and he had complied.

On April 20, Khalek filed a complaint against Tayeb and Rana and published a rejoinder in The Daily Purbanchal newspaper, which CPJ reviewed, denying the allegations and warning that legal action would be taken against those who spread the information shared in their posts.

Tayeb was detained in relation to the case from April 20 to May 10, 2021, when he was released on bail, according to CPJ documentation and the journalist. Rana was also detained from June 3 to July 7, when he was released on bail, according to the journalist and the Bangladesh High Court bail order, which CPJ reviewed.

The investigating officer in the case did not respond to CPJ’s request for comment sent via messaging app. Khalek did not respond to CPJ’s text message requesting comment.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Erik Crouch.

In May 2020, the Rapid Action Battalion, an elite unit of the Bangladeshi police under U.S. sanction since last year for gross human rights violations, detained Ahmed and cartoonist Kabir Kishore from their Dhaka residences and accused them of violating the Digital Security Act (DSA). A first information report, which opens a police investigation, accused Ahmed, Kishore, and four others of running the popular Facebook page “I am Bangladeshi,” which featured political and social commentary on COVID-19.

Kishore told CPJ after his release last March that during the first days of his detention, authorities tortured him by repeatedly beating him in the head before taking him to a Rapid Action Battalion office. There, he found Ahmed and learned that he had been abused too. Ahmed “told me he was tortured by electric shock,” Kishore told CPJ. (It is not possible for CPJ to independently verify the allegations, but they are in line with details of abuse in custody in Bangladesh.)

Denied bail at least six times, Ahmed was in legal limbo for much of his detention. According to the DSA, authorities should have completed their investigation within 60 days, or sought an extension from a court. But his lawyer said that didn’t happen on time – authorities only filed a charge sheet after nine months of detention. 

He languished in jail for more than nine months before he suffered a heart attack, reports said, and died on February 25, 2021; his family claims there was a three-hour delay before he was admitted to the hospital, according to the United Nations. 

CPJ emailed the offices of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, Law Minister Anisul Haq, Attorney General Abu Mohammad Amin Uddin, and Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Md Shafiqul Islam, for comment but did not receive any reply. Khandaker Al Moyeen, the director of the legal and media wing of the Rapid Action Battalion did not respond to CPJ’s request for comment sent via messaging app.

Barua, who represents formerly detained journalists Shafiqul Islam Kajol, Jamal Mir, and Mahtabuddin Talukdar, spoke to CPJ via video call about Ahmed’s alleged torture and death, the reaction inside Bangladesh, and the dangers of the law used to detain Ahmed and Kishore. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How did you find out about Mushtaq’s death?

I saw a Facebook post by one of my lawyer friends. I was very surprised that jail authorities did not directly communicate with me or family about his death. It was completely unexpected. [I had expected that] in a couple of days, he was going to be released on bail. 

In January 2021, I filed an application before the High Court division for bail for Mushtaq and Kishore. Due to the long list of cases, I had to wait for more than two months to get the matter heard. Mushtaq died on 25 February 2021. Subsequently, I managed to get the matter heard and Kishore was released on bail on 4 March 2021.

What was the reaction inside Bangladesh?

The reaction inside Bangladesh was furious. There were protests. Before Mushtaq’s death, I was one of the only people demanding the repeal of the Digital Security Act. After Mushtaq’s death, there was a radical change. More people, civil society organizations, and human rights defenders started asking for repeal of the law because it was so draconian that a writer like Mushtaq died in jail. 

The unfortunate thing is that earlier police seized his personal gadgets, computer, and mobile phones. On behalf of his wife, we filed an application before the International Crimes Tribunal of Dhaka to return those things because they are not relevant in the case. But surprisingly, the judge refused without giving any proper reason as to why those items should be kept in the custody of the police. That evidence cannot be used against the other accused because these criminal allegations are a matter of personal liability. We are going to file another application before the High Court division on that issue.

What is your reaction to the Home Ministry’s March 2021 report that Mushtaq died of “natural causes”? 

As Mushtaq’s lawyer, I expected that an independent inquiry should have been conducted into his death and the report should be published for public scrutiny. But now, other than some [basic details] the state provided to some newspapers, we do not know what is in that report. 

I am not aware of any other health complications that Mushtaq experienced besides some difficulties with his eyes. He never mentioned that he was feeling seriously bad; otherwise, I would have filed an application for medical support.

The cause of death itself remains unclear. Kishore alleged that Mushtaq was tortured. If Mushtaq was not released, if he was not exposed otherwise by any other events between his arrest and his death, then the torture and death should be considered connected events. In a case of death like this, if we consider this as a kind of homicide, then the causation is quite a serious issue. The people who tortured him under the custody of the state should have been made liable for his death. 

As soon as Mushtaq died, his body was handed over to the family and they had to complete the burial process straight away. We were so surprised that we could not even think straight at that time. The state said they conducted an autopsy report after he died, but his family and I did not see such a report. It could be torture. It could just have been a heart attack. Without access to the autopsy report or Home Ministry report, the death of Mushtaq remains completely unclear to us, even until today.

Law Minister Anisul Haq recently acknowledged that the Digital Security Act has been “misused and abused” and said that journalists would no longer face immediate arrest after a complaint is filed against them under the law. Are these actions enough to ensure that journalists will not face legal retaliation for their work? 

I have been dealing with cases of journalists for the last couple of years. Especially during the COVID-19 period, journalists were the worst victims of the DSA. Jamal Mir and Mahtabuddin Talukdar were in jail for more than one year under DSA cases. They were denied bail many times. 

After Mushtaq’s death, there was a reasonable conclusion that the use of the DSA was too harsh.

Although the Law Minister said repeatedly that a journalist will not be arrested immediately after a case is filed against them, actually the process is the other way around. In most cases, journalists are abducted or detained illegally having no case against them. If the police do not bring them in front of a magistrate after 24 hours, the detention becomes illegal under the Code of Criminal Procedure. Then, after two or three days, or a month later, they are implicated in the case under the DSA. In Mushtaq and Kishore’s case, they were picked up from their houses [and allegedly tortured] before a [first information report] was filed against them. [The first information report filed against Ahmed claimed he was arrested on May 5, when his wife told The Daily Star that he was in fact detained a day earlier.]

With regard to the DSA, I do not use the term “abused.” The law in itself is so vague, ambiguous and draconian that if someone uses it, that in itself is abuse. That is why we are calling for the law to be repealed.

What other mechanisms has the government used to target journalists?

Whether you speak about the DSA, the Official Secrets Act [a colonial-era law under which journalist Rozina Islam was detained in connection with her reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic], or the Bangladesh penal code, these are tools in hands of the state. The application of laws like the DSA and Official Secrets Act are about power. It is about how politicians are threatening the people of this country. People are being abducted, taken away forcefully from their residence without legal authority.

How should the world remember Mushtaq?

Mushtaq should be remembered as a writer and successful entrepreneur. He died for freedom of expression. Journalists should remember him as an icon, and continue raising their voices against violations of human rights and civil rights. They should not stop. They should not be afraid of any persecution because people are always there to stand by them. People should remember him as a fighter. He died fighting for his rights and the people of the country.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Sonali Dhawan/CPJ Asia Researcher.