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 approximately 6:45 a.m. on January 5, Hossain Baksh, a camera operator for the privately owned news channel ATN News, was abducted and severely beaten, allegedly upon the order of Asad Ali, the then-ruling Awami League-nominated chairperson candidate for a local union council election, in the Madhabpur upazila, or sub-district, of the Kamalganj upazila in the northeastern Sylhet Division, according to the Dhaka Tribune and Baksh, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app. (A union council is a local government unit in Bangladesh.) Ali did not respond to CPJ’s text message requesting comment.

Ali was subsequently elected chairperson of the Madhabpur upazila in the election held on January 5, according to Daily Jugantor. The next phase of local union council elections across the country will be held on January 31, and the final phase will be held on February 7, according to news reports.

“The abduction and beating of Hossain Baksh demonstrate the significant dangers that Bangladeshi journalists can face while covering elections,” said Steven Butler, CPJ Asia’s program coordinator, in Washington, D.C. “Authorities must conduct an immediate and impartial investigation into the incident, hold the perpetrators accountable, and ensure that journalists can safely and freely report during the upcoming phases of the local union council elections.”

Baksh, who received a pass from the Election Commission to report on the polls, was filming an armed procession led by Ali that was allegedly threatening voters next to a primary school in Madhabpur, when the then-candidate ordered six or seven men to attack Baksh with machetes, sticks, and knives, abduct him, and take him to Ali’s house so “he would be scared of them in the future,” Baksh said, adding that men also stole his camera, smartphones, cash, credit cards, motorcycle key, and national identity card at that time, which they have yet to return.

Baksh told CPJ that the men forced him into a black car and took him to Ali’s house in the Madhabpur upazila. Once at Ali’s house, a group of men, including the then-candidate’s son and nephews, repeatedly and severely beat him with ropes and held him for approximately one and a half hours until around 8:00 a.m., when the Kamalganj police, which were informed by bystanders of Baksh’s abduction, retrieved him, according to Baksh.

Baksh sustained wounds to his head, face, eyes, and legs, and received first aid treatment at the Kamalganj Upazila Health Complex, where he vomited repeatedly and was referred to the Moulvibazar Sadar Hospital for further treatment, according to the Dhaka Tribune and Baksh, who said that he will require further medical treatment for injuries to his eyes.

Baksh told CPJ that he filed a complaint against the perpetrators at the Kamalganj police station today, but an investigating officer did not register a first information report, the first step of a police investigation, against the perpetrators, saying that further investigation would be necessary due to the association of the accused with the Awami League. Baksh added that the officer-in-charge of the station said that he would follow up with Baksh later.

The officer-in-charge of the Kamalganj police station did not respond to CPJ’s request for comment sent via messaging app.

Mohammad Zakaria, superintendent of the Moulvibazar district police, which encompasses the  Madhabpur and Kamalganj upazilas, responded to CPJ’s request for comment via messaging app with a police document recording the incident, which said that Baksh is a supporter of the oppositional Bangladesh Nationalist Party, and was traveling to campaign for an independent candidate running in the Madhabpur union council election when Ali’s supporters stopped his car and slapped him before a police officer rescued him from the area and took him to the Kamalganj Upazila Health Complex for treatment.

Baksh and another local reporter with ATN News, who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisal, denied the police’s claim, saying that Baksh was on assignment for ATN News at the time of the attack. The area of the assault identified in the police document is the same as where Ali’s house is located, according to a person familiar with the case, who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisal.

Munni Saha, news head of ATN News, did not immediately respond to CPJ’s request for comment sent via messaging app.

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