Around midnight on March 18, about two dozen individuals, identifying themselves as police, forcibly entered and searched Noorani’s family home in Islamabad. They assaulted the journalist’s two brothers, Mohammad Saif ur Rehman Haider and Mohammad Ali, dragged them into vehicles, and took them to an undisclosed location, according to Noorani, his mother, and a copy of a petition about the abductions  filed by the family’s lawyers with the Islamabad High Court, which CPJ reviewed. Noorani and the petition identify the abductors as agents of Inter-Services Intelligence and Military Intelligence.

Khehtran disappeared on March 13 from his home district of Barkhan in Balochistan province, and there has been no information about his whereabouts, according to independent news outlet ANI news and human rights lawyer Imaan Mazari, who is following the case and spoke to CPJ.

“It is deeply concerning that journalist Asif Karim Khehtran, as well as Mohammad Saif ur Rehman Haider and Mohammad Ali, brothers of journalist Ahmed Noorani, have been forcibly disappeared. This is indicative of a severe media crackdown in Pakistan,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “Authorities must ensure their safety, immediately release them, and respect the rule of law.”

On March 17, Noorani published an investigative report detailing the alleged control that Pakistan’s army chief, General Asim Munir, has consolidated since assuming the country’s top military position in 2022. Both Noorani and the petition filed on behalf of his family in the Islamabad High Court claim that this report led to the enforced disappearance of his brothers.

In 2024, Khehtran had faced persistent threats from military authorities, who pressured him to halt his reporting on human rights issues in Balochistan. His family members had previously been forcibly disappeared, as well, according to Mazari.

Noorani is a journalist with the investigative news website FactFocus, which extensively publishes on Pakistan, and Khehtran has worked with Daily Awami and Quetta Voice.

Abductions and forced disappearances of journalists in Pakistan have been widely documented, including the high-profile cases of Imran Riaz Khan and Sami Ibrahim, who were abducted in May 2023 and later released.

CPJ’s messages for comment to Information Minister Attaullah Tarar have received no response.

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

The political unrest that erupted in Bangladesh following the student protests over reservation descended into a disturbing path marked by escalating violence. In the wake of this turmoil, Sheikh Hasina was compelled to step down from her position as Prime Minister and flee the country on August 5. This was followed by several incidents of attacks on the minority Hindu community. Against this backdrop, numerous videos and images related to the violence began circulating widely on Indian social media platforms.

One such video shows a girl being beaten up and harassed by a mob. The clip has been widely shared with the claim that the girl is a Hindu and that she was being targeted and harassed by individuals from the Muslim community. The footage reveals women dressed in burqas and men wearing caps that are commonly associated with the Muslim community.

Ashwini Shrivastava, a Right-wing social media user, tweeted the video with similar claims. At the time this article being written, the video has received more than 9 Lakh views. (Archived link)

Lawyer and BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay also tweeted this video and wrote that the biggest enemies of Hindus were converted Hindus. (Archived link)

Many more X users have posted this video with the same claim.

This video has also been uploaded on YouTube with the same claim. (Link 1, Link 2)

Fact Check

Alt News observed that Shohanur Rahman, a fact-checker from Bangladesh-based outlet ‘Rumor Scanner’, had replied to Ashwini Srivastava’s tweet. Commenting on the alleged incident, he clarified that the woman seen in the video was not a Hindu as claimed, but a member of the Muslim community. Alt News, respecting the sensitivity of the situation, has chosen not to disclose the name of the victim in this report. The incident in question occurred on August 7 in the Tanker Par area of the Brahmanbaria district. The woman is reportedly a worker of the Mahila Chhatra League, a student wing of Sheikh Hasina’s political party, the Awami League. It appears that her association with this organisation was the reason she was targeted by the mob.

Based on this information, we performed a keyword search in Bengali on Facebook, which led us to a 6:48 second long related video. In one of the frames from this footage, we identified the words ‘Loknath Tank, B Baria’ inscribed on a wall. The caption of this Facebook post also corroborated this location, mentioning ‘Brahmanbaria Tank’ and ‘Chhatra League leader.’

It is important for readers to note that in both this longer Facebook video and the shorter viral video, a girl dressed in a black salwar suit with a red dupatta can be seen standing beside the victim. This individual appears prominently in both videos.

While investigating, Alt News found two Facebook videos of this incident. (Link 1, Link 2) After carefully analysing both videos, we observed a pink purse that was present in both. In the first video, the victim is seen clutching this pink purse. In the second video, the girl wearing the black suit and red dupatta is shown retrieving documents and other items from this pink purse. 

In this second Facebook video, the girl wearing the black suit takes out the victim’s ID card and shows it to the camera, which is from the Upazila Parishad elections. After seeing this ID card, it becomes clear that the victim girl is a Muslim. Below is a Google-translated version of the ID card which is in Bengali. 

To sum it up, a woman seen being harassed by a mob in this viral video is actually not a Hindu, but a Muslim. She was attacked due to her association with the Awami League.

Alt News debunked two similar false claims in the recent past where attacks on student leaders of Awami League in educational institutions were passed as targeted attack on Hindus. (1, 2)

The post Bangladesh: Yet another video of assault on Awami League youth leader viral in India with a communal spin appeared first on Alt News.

This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Kinjal.

Sheikh Hasina was the longest-serving prime minister in Bangladesh’s history. She was the prime minister from 1996 to 2001, and then from 2009 to 2024—a total of 20 years. This was a sharp contrast to her father Sheikh Mujib, who was assassinated in 1975 after four years in power, or General Ziaur Rahman who was assassinated in 1981 after six years in power. In a scene reminiscent of the end of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s rule in Sri Lanka, jubilant crowds of thousands crashed the gates of Ganabhaban, the official residence of the prime minister, and jubilantly made off with everything they could find.

Tanzim Wahab, photographer and chief curator of the Bengal Foundation, told me, “When [the masses] storm into the palace and make off with pet swans, elliptical machines, and palatial red sofas, you can feel the level of subaltern class fury that built up against a rapacious regime.” There was widespread celebration across Bangladesh, along with bursts of attacks against buildings identified with the government—private TV channels, and palatial homes of government ministers were a favored target for arson. Several local-level leaders in Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League have already been killed (Mohsin Reza, a local president of the party, was beaten to death in Khulna).

The situation in Bangladesh remains fluid, but it is also settling quickly into a familiar formula of an “interim government” that will hold new elections. Political violence in Bangladesh is not unusual, having been present since the birth of the country in 1971. Indeed, one of the reasons why Sheikh Hasina reacted so strongly to any criticism or protest was her fear that such activity would repeat what she experienced in her youth. Her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (1920-1975), the founder of Bangladesh, was assassinated in a coup d’état on August 15, 1975, along with most of his family. Sheikh Hasina and her sister survived because they were in Germany at that time—the two sisters fled Bangladesh together on the same helicopter this week. She has been the victim of multiple assassination attempts, including a grenade attack in 2004 that left her with a hearing problem. Fear of such an attempt on her life made Sheikh Hasina deeply concerned about any opposition to her, which is why up to 45 minutes before her departure she wanted the army to again act with force against the gathering crowds.

However, the army read the atmosphere. It was time for her to leave.

A contest has already begun over who will benefit from the removal of Sheikh Hasina. On the one side are the students, led by the Bangladesh Student Uprising Central Committee of about 158 people and six spokespersons. Lead spokesperson Nahid Islam made the students’ views clear: “Any government other than the one we recommended would not be accepted. We won’t betray the bloodshed by the martyrs for our cause. We will create a new democratic Bangladesh through our promise of security of life, social justice, and a new political landscape.” At the other end are the military and the opposition political forces (including the primary opposition party Bangladesh National Party, the Islamist party Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, and the small left party Ganosamhati Andolan). While the Army’s first meetings were with these opposition parties, a public outcry over the erasure of the student movement forced the Army to meet with the Student Central Committee and listen to their primary demands.

There is a habit called polti khawa or “changing the team jersey midway through a football match” that prevails in Bangladesh, with the military being the referee in charge at all times. This slogan is being used in public discourse now to draw attention to any attempt by the military to impose a mere change of jersey when the students are demanding a wholesale change of the rules of the game. Aware of this, the military has accepted the student demand that the new government be led by economist Muhammad Yunus, Bangladesh’s only Nobel Prize winner. Yunus, as the founder of the microcredit movement and promoter of “social business,” used to be seen as primarily a phenomenon in the neoliberal NGO world. However, the Hasina government’s relentless political vendetta against him over the last decade, and his decision to speak up for the student movement, have transformed him into an unlikely “guardian” figure for the protesters. The students see him as a figurehead although his neoliberal politics of austerity might be at odds with their key demand, which is for employment.

Students

Even prior to independence and despite the rural character of the region, the epicenter of Bangladeshi politics has been in urban areas, with a focus on Dhaka. Even as other forces entered the political arena, students remain key political actors in Bangladesh. One of the earliest protests in post-colonial Pakistan was the language movement (bhasha andolan) that emerged out of Dhaka University, where student leaders were killed during an agitation in 1952 (they are memorialized in the Shaheed Minar, or Martyrs’ Pillar, in Dhaka). Students became a key part of the freedom struggle for liberation from Pakistan in 1971, which is why the Pakistani army targeted the universities in Operation Searchlight which led to massacres of student activists. The political parties that emerged in Bangladesh after 1971 grew largely through their student wings—the Awami League’s Bangladesh Chhatra League, the Bangladesh National Party’s Bangladesh Jatiotabadi Chatradal, and the Jamaat-e-Islami’s Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir.

Over the past decade, students in Bangladesh have been infuriated by the growing lack of employment despite the bustling economy, and by what they perceived as a lack of care from the government. The latter was demonstrated to them by the callous comments made by Shajahan Khan, a minister in Sheikh Hasina’s government, who smirked as he dismissed news that a bus had killed two college students on Airport Road, Dhaka, in July 2019. That event led to a massive protest movement by students of all ages for road safety, to which the government responded with arrests (including incarceration for 107 days of the photojournalist Shahidul Alam).

Behind the road safety protests, which earned greater visibility for the issue, was another key theme. Five years previously, in 2013, students who were denied access to the Bangladesh Civil Service began a protest over restrictive quotas for government jobs. In February 2018, this issue returned through the work of students in the Bangladesh Sadharon Chhatra Odhikar Songrokkhon Parishad (Bangladesh General Students’ Rights Protection Forum). When the road safety protests occurred, the students raised the quota issue (as well as the issue of inflation). By law, the government reserved seats in its employment for people in underdeveloped districts (10 percent), women (10 percent), minorities (5 percent), and the disabled (1 percent) as well as for descendants of freedom fighters (30 percent).

It is the latter quota that has been contested since 2013 and which returned as an emotive issue this year for the student protesters—especially after the prime minister’s incendiary comment at a press conference that those protesting the freedom fighter quotas were “rajakarer natni” (grandchildren of war traitors). British journalist David Bergman, who is married to prominent Bangladeshi activist lawyer Sara Hossain and was hounded into exile by the Hasina government, called this comment the “terrible error” that ended the government.

Military Islam

In February 2013, Abdul Quader Mollah of the Jamaat-e-Islami was sentenced to life in prison for crimes against humanity during Bangladesh’s liberation war (he was known to have killed at least 344 civilians). When he left the court, he made a V sign, whose arrogance inflamed large sections of Bangladesh’s society. Many in Dhaka gathered at Shahbag, where they formed a Gonojagoron Moncho (Mass Awakening Platform). This protest movement pushed the Supreme Court to reassess the verdict, and Mollah was hanged on December 12. The Shahbag movement brought to the surface a long-term tension in Bangladesh regarding the role of religion in politics.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman initially claimed that Bangladesh would be a socialist and secular country. After his assassination by the military, general Ziaur Rahman took over the country and governed it from 1975 to 1981. During this time, Zia brought religion back into public life, welcomed the Jamaat-e-Islami from banishment (which had been due to its participation in the genocide of 1971), and—in 1978—formed the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) on nationalist lines with a strong critical stance toward India. General Hussain Muhammad Ershad, who took control after his own coup in 1982 and ruled until 1990, went further, declaring that Islam was the state’s religion. This provided a political contrast with the views of Mujib, and of his daughter Sheikh Hasina who took the reins of her father’s party, the Awami League, in 1981.

The stage was set for a long-term contest between Sheikh Hasina’s centrist-secular Awami League and the BNP, which was taken over by Zia’s wife Khaleda Zia after the General was assassinated in 1981. Gradually, the military—which had a secular orientation in its early days—began to witness a growing Islamist mood. Political Islam has grown in Bangladesh with the rise of piety in the general population, some of it driven by the Islamization of migrant labor to the Gulf states and to Southeast Asia. The latter has steadily reflected growth in observance of the Islamic faith in the aftermath of the war on terror’s many consequences. One should neither exaggerate this threat nor minimize it.

The relationship of the political Islamists, whose popular influence has grown since 2013, with the military is another factor that requires much more clarity. Given the dent in the fortunes of the Jamaat-e-Islami since the War Crimes Tribunal documented how the group was involved on the side of Pakistan during the liberation struggle, it is likely that this formation of political Islam has a threshold in terms of its legitimacy. However, one complicating factor is that the Hasina government relentlessly used the fear of “political Islam” as a bogeyman to obtain US and Indian silent consent to the two elections in 2018 and 2024. If the interim government holds a fair election on schedule, this will allow Bangladeshi people to find out if political Islam is a dispensation they wish to vote for.

New Cold War

Far away from the captivating issues put forward by the students which led to the ouster of Sheikh Hasina are dangerous currents that are often not discussed during these exciting times. Bangladesh is the eighth-largest country in the world by population, and it has the second highest Gross Domestic Product in South Asia. The role it plays in the region and in the world is not to be discounted.

Over the course of the past decade, South Asia has faced significant challenges as the United States imposed a new cold war against China. Initially, India participated with the United States in the formations around the US Indo-Pacific Strategy. But, since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, India has begun to distance itself from this US initiative and tried to put its own national agenda at the forefront. This meant that India did not condemn Russia but continued to buy Russian oil. At the same time, China had—through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)—built infrastructure in Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, India’s neighbors.

It is perhaps not a coincidence that four governments in the region that had begun to collaborate with the BRI have fallen, and that their replacements in three of them are eager for better ties with the United States. This includes Shehbaz Sharif, who came to power in Pakistan in April 2022 with the ouster of Imran Khan (now in prison), Ranil Wickremesinghe, who briefly came to power in Sri Lanka in July 2022 after setting aside a mass uprising that had other ideas than the installation of a party with only one member in parliament (Wickremesinghe himself), and KP Sharma Oli, who came to power in July 2024 in Nepal after a parliamentary shuffle that removed the Maoists from power.

What role the removal of Sheikh Hasina will play in the calculations in the region can only be gauged after elections are held under the interim government. But there is little doubt that these decisions in Dhaka are not without their regional and global implications.

The students rely upon the power of the mass demonstrations for their legitimacy. What they do not have is an agenda for Bangladesh, which is why the old neoliberal technocrats are already swimming like sharks around the interim government. In their ranks are those who favor the BNP and the Islamists. What role they will play is yet to be seen.

If the student committee now formed a bloc with the trade unions, particularly the garment worker unions, there is the possibility that they might indeed form the opening for building a new democratic and people-centered Bangladesh. If they are unable to build this historical bloc, they may be pushed to the side, just like the students and workers in Egypt, and they might have to surrender their efforts to the military and an elite that has merely changed its jersey.

• This article was produced by Globetrotter.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Vijay Prashad.

A video, which is being shared with a similar claim, shows a dead, disfigured man tied to a structure while a large crowd shouts slogans of “Allah-Hu-Akbar.” Verified user @SonOfBharat7 tweeted the video, claiming that an old Hindu man was attacked with “long swords” by Muslims who also inflicted 400 blows on him. He referred to Muslims as insects in his tweet and added that they just needed an excuse to shed blood. His tweet garnered over 350000 views. (Archive)

एक बूढ़े हिन्दू व्यक्ति पर
अल्ला हू अकबर बोलकर
लम्बी तलवारें लेकर टूट पड़े मुसलमान…..
400 वार किये उस बूढ़े व्यक्ति के जिश्म पे…

सोचिये कितने बड़े मर्द हैं ये नपुंसक कीड़े
इन्हे सिर्फ खून बहाने का बहाना चाहिए..#Bangladesh #Hindu pic.twitter.com/DNGxHrrE8s

— Deepak Sharma (@SonOfBharat7) August 5, 2024

Right-wing influencer @MrSinha_ had also tweeted the video with the same claim. Here is the archive to Google Cache. He later deleted it.

Several other users tweeted the video with the same claim. (Archives- 1, 2, 3, 4)

Fact Check

We spoke to a Bangladeshi journalist and ascertained that the man seen in this video was a Muslim man named Shahidul Islam Hiron. Upon a keyword search, we found that 75-year-old Hiron was an Awami League general secretary from Jhenaidah in south-western Bangladesh. According to a local report, Hiron and his driver, Akhtar, Hossain were hacked and burnt to death.

Eyewitnesses reportedly said that around noon on August 5, a mob vandalized Hiron’s house and in the process, Hiron fired at the crowd injuring several people. The mob went on to set fire to his house and injure his personal driver, Akhtar. Akhtar was taken to the local hospital where the doctor declared him dead.

On the other hand, Hiron, who was stuck on the third floor of the house, died in the fire. The mob broke into the house took out the body and hung it in Paira Chattar in the centre of the city. From there, the body was sent to the morgue of the local hospital. Other reports (1, 2) also corroborated this chain of events.

We also found a YouTube video filmed during the incident at Paira Chattar. The man filming the video also identified the deceased man as Hiron and also stated that Hiron had been burnt to death and brought to the scene. Here is a link to the video. Alt News will refrain from embedding the same due to its graphic nature.

We also geo-located the place where Hiron’s body was hung. The spot is called Paira Chattar. The place takes its name from a statue of a pigeon (Paira in Bengali) at the intersection. In the viral video, the foot of the statue is visible, confirming the location. Below is a comparison among an image from Wikipedia, a key frame from the YouTube video a key frame from the viral video.

Hence, a video of a Muslim Awami League leader burnt to death and hid body hung from a statue at an intersection in the Jhenaidah in Bangladesh is viral with the false claim that the deceased is a Hindu.

The post Awami League leader Shahidul Islam Hiron killed in Bangladesh: Video falsely viral as Muslims attacking Hindu man appeared first on Alt News.

This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Shinjinee Majumder.

“All sides in Bangladesh must ensure that journalists can report safely during this delicate time of political transition,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Beh Lih Yi. “The attacks on journalists and the blocking of internet and phone service during recent weeks of protests are unacceptable and need to stop immediately.”

At least three Bangladeshi journalists were killed covering unrest in July and dozens more were assaulted either by police, supporters of Hasina’s Awami League party, or protesters. Another journalist, Daily Khoborpatra newspaper correspondent Pradip Kumar Bhowmik, was reported killed on Sunday in northwest Sirajganj city, as well as other fresh attacks on the press.

Sunday’s renewed violence saw further attacks on the media, including The Business Standard newspaper reporters Miraz Hossain and Jahidul Islam, who were beaten in the capital Dhaka by supporters of the Jubo League, the youth wing of the Awami League, Hossain told CPJ.

In addition, the Dhaka offices of multiple pro-Awami League broadcasters including Somoy TV, Ekattor TV, and DBC News, were vandalized on Monday.

On Sunday, the government ordered its second mobile internet shutdown in three weeks and on Monday broadband services were suspended for about three hours. Services resumed on Monday afternoon as Hasina fled the country after protesters stormed her palace.

Army spokesperson Sami-Ud-Dowla Chowdhury and the Jubo League general secretary Mainul Hossain Khan Nikhil did not respond to CPJ’s requests for comment via messaging app.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Arlene Getz/CPJ Editorial Director.

Early Monday (local time), preliminary results released by the Election Commission showed the Awami League had won at least 222 out of 300 parliamentary seats, enough to form a super majority and again govern the South Asian nation of 170 million people.

With more than 294 seats declared, the Jatiya Party – an ally of the ruling party and the only other notable party contesting the election – won only 11, while independent candidates aligned with the Awami League secured victories in 61 parliamentary constituencies.

The result effectively rubber-stamped an outcome that had been predicted long before, after the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies declared they were boycotting the country’s 12th general election. Thiers was an act of protest against Hasina’s refusal to give in to their demand that she step aside to allow a neutral caretaker administration to oversee the election.

Polling centers closed at 4 p.m. Sunday, and BenarNews reporters visiting voting sites observed a slow trickle of voters, with ruling party activists standing guard outside.

“The election result was a formality; we all knew what was coming. The big question now is how a supercharged political environment is impacted,” Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at Wilson Center in Washington, told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated news outlet. 

“Reconciliation seems unlikely given the current climate, but concessions – such as the release from jail of some BNP leaders – could help reduce tensions.”

Meanwhile, there was confusion about the actual turnout rate when Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal announced at a post-poll press conference that it was “about 28 percent” – only to be quickly corrected on the spot by his own officials.

The initial estimate of 28% was in line with another announcement that the turnout was 27% an hour before the polls closed. However, after being corrected, a visibly confused Awal said the estimated turnout would be 40%. 

“This 40 percent is reliable,” he said.

Meanwhile, Netra News, a Sweden-based news outlet focusing on Bangladesh, claimed to have obtained videos of the real-time dashboard screens from the Election Commission hours after polls closed, showing that the turnout rate was indeed about 28%.

However, the BNP and other parties have criticized the preliminary turnout figure of 40%, calling it a “sham.”

In the 2018 election, where the BNP participated, voter turnout exceeded 80%. Ruling party officials had earlier suggested that a high turnout rate would dispel criticisms about the election being rendered a pointless exercise due to the BNP’s boycott.

The BNP, which had called for nationwide strikes over the weekend, previously stated that the opposition boycott had succeeded.

In a social media post, Tarique Rahman, the de facto leader of the BNP, thanked the public for “securing a victory without even participating in the sham election.”

In the Gopalganj-3 constituency, Sheikh Hasina won by securing about 250,000 votes, more than 86% of the total eligible voters. Her nearest rival got only 460. 

In several polling centers where Hasina was a candidate, the turnout rate was an improbable 99-100%.

Even in an election where the ruling party was poised to retain power, instances of ballot stuffing were not uncommon. According to a BenarNews review of local reports, authorities arrested individuals or suspended polling officials for aiding ballot stuffing in at least 12 districts.

Hasina, 76, cast her ballot at Dhaka City College Center in the capital as soon as polls opened at 8 a.m.

“Your vote is very valuable,” she said after voting, accompanied by her daughter and sister. “We fought a lot for the right to vote, and I hope that all the people of the country will come to vote at the polling centers. Bangladesh will continue its democratic trend.”

Scattered incidents of violence were reported across the country on Sunday.

Police said Zillur Rahman, a 40-year-old supporter of the Awami League, was killed by supporters of a rival independent candidate outside a polling center in Mirkadim municipality, south of Dhaka. Another man, Nawab Al, 60, reportedly died in a scuffle outside a voting station in Debidwar, Comilla district.

Elsewhere, three people were injured by a homemade bomb detonated at a polling center in the Dhaka neighborhood of Hazaribagh, said Bachchu Mia, a police official.

Some 800,000 police and armed forces personnel have been deployed to safeguard law and order for the general election.

On Saturday, the eve of the vote, readers found the websites of several news outlets, including Daily Manab Zamin, Samakal, and Voice of America, inaccessible. Digital rights activists told a BenarNews reporter that the websites appeared to have been blocked by authorities.

‘Sacrificial lamb’

The Jatiya Party, aligned with the government and the only other competitor in the election, won just 11 seats – fewer than half of the 23 seats it had held. The victories were out of the 26 seats where the Awami League withdrew its official candidates to support Jatiya. However, independent candidates, also linked to the Awami League, remained in the race for those seats. 

Earlier, almost all of the Jatiya candidates outside the 26 seats withdrew their candidacies, alleging unfair elections.

“We feared being used as a sacrificial lamb to legitimize what would be a one-party system,” G.M. Quader, the embittered leader of the Jatiya Party, told reporters. “Despite assurances, the Awami League repeated its old strategy of manipulating elections by taking over polling stations forcibly.”

To create the appearance of competition in the polls after the opposition’s boycott, the Awami League allowed its members to run as independents if they weren’t formally nominated. 

In most cases, these independents served as mere placeholders to save the ruling party from the embarrassment of its official candidates winning without even any token rival. However, in other areas, some independent candidates demonstrated a stronger presence.

The parliamentary election, which is the 12th since Bangladesh fought a bloody war for independence from Pakistan in 1971, had been overshadowed by political unrest and mass arrests in the run-up to the vote.

Tens of thousands of opposition leaders and activists – including the BNP’s secretary general and other top leaders – have reportedly been arrested since Oct. 28 alone, when the party staged the last in a series of rallies demanding a neutral caretaker government be put in place to oversee the polls. 

At least 39 people – mostly from the opposition – have died in political violence since then.

‘No point’

Abdus Sattar, a resident of Dhaka’s Shaheenbag neighborhood, said he was not casting a ballot on Sunday because the election was uncompetitive.

“I came here to see how the vote is going,” Sattar told BenarNews. “I will not vote as there is no point. The ruling party is already the winner.”

But others took the opportunity to vote. 

Kakoli Begum, 55, from the Dhaka-16 constituency, said voting was the only way to change the government. 

“The election commission assured us that there would be fair polls. So I came here to vote,” she told BenarNews. “There is no violence, but the presence of voters is very thin.”

In recent months, the United States and other Western countries have ramped up calls to demand that free and fair elections be held in Bangladesh. Washington threatened visa restrictions on Bangladeshis whom it suspected of undermining the legitimacy of the vote. 

But Hasina, the daughter of the country’s founding father, has largely ignored the pressure. 

Since 2009, she has presided over a crackdown on dissent, notably against opposition parties and civil society.

Under her watch, local and international advocacy groups, including Human Rights Watch, have documented alleged abuses by Bangladesh authorities, including mass arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearance, torture, extrajudicial killings, and widespread repression.

For many voters, the cost of living was a key concern. Food inflation has been stubbornly high in recent months, while power cuts and fuel-price hikes have added to consumer woes. 

Until relatively recently, Hasina had presided over one of the region’s best-performing economies, largely on the back of the country’s booming textile and garment industry.

But Bangladesh’s post-pandemic recovery stuttered, and it was forced to approach the International Monetary Fund for a bailout. 

Sunday’s one-sided election sets the stage for more violence in the post-voting period because of growing discontent with the incumbent government and high inflation, the International Crisis Group said in a report on Thursday.

“For both political and economic reasons, Hasina doesn’t benefit from unrest and political violence. And responding with force could put her back in the possible crosshairs of Western sanctions.” Kugelman said.

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news outlet.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by BenarNews staff.

On Monday evening, about 20 to 25 men attacked Hasan, a reporter for the news website Jagonews24.com, in the capital Dhaka, according to the local press freedom group Bangladeshi Journalists in International Media, news reports, and the journalist, who spoke with CPJ.

“The beating of Bangladeshi journalist Md Nahid Hasan appears to be the latest attack on the press by supporters of the ruling Awami League,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Beh Lih Yi. “Bangladesh authorities must swiftly and transparently investigate this incident and take immediate action to end reprisals against the media by ruling party affiliates. Violence against journalists must end.”

Hasan told CPJ that at around 10:30 p.m., he received information about a clash allegedly involving the Chhatra League, the student wing of the Awami League. The journalist called Md Rakibul Islam, a local leader of the Chhatra League, to ask about the reported attack and told him of his location in the Dhanmondi area to meet for an interview.

Around five minutes later, Tamzeed Rahman, a local leader of the Jubo League, the Awami League’s youth wing, arrived at the reporter’s location with about 20 to 25 men, and asked Hasan if he was a journalist. When Hasan confirmed this, the men grabbed him by the collar and slapped and beat him with their hands and fists until he fell to the ground, where they continued to kick and stomp on him, the journalist said.

Hasan said he attempted to show his attackers his press identification card, to which they responded, “You are a fake journalist.” The men also took his phone to check if he had filmed the clash and deleted some of his videos, including one of an arson attack on a bus, Hasan told CPJ. After about 20 minutes, the men returned his phone and left, he said.

Hasan said that bystanders told him that the Chhatra League’s Islam and the Jubo League’s Rahman attacked him.

Islam and Rahman told CPJ that they did not beat Hasan but rescued him from an attack. Hasan rejected that characterization of the attack and said that the police should be able to determine who was involved by analyzing security footage from the scene.

On Wednesday, the Chhatra League issued a statement, reviewed by CPJ, that dismissed Islam from his post for unspecified reasons.

Hasan said he sustained significant bruising all over his body and received painkillers at a local hospital. He said that he had filed a complaint at the Dhanmondi Police Station, but authorities had not opened a formal investigation as of November 22.

Habibur Rahman, Dhaka Metropolitan police commissioner, and Parvez Islam, officer-in-charge of Dhanmondi Police Station, did not respond to CPJ’s messages requesting comment.

The Chhatra League has been suspected in a number of assaults against journalists in recent months. Its members allegedly beat student journalists Abdul Alim and Abu Sayed Rony on western Bangladesh’s Rajshahi College campus on November 9, as well as student journalist Mosharrof Shah on the University of Chittagong campus on September 24.

Editor’s note: This alert has been updated to clarify the participants in the clash.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Arlene Getz/CPJ Editorial Director.

At around 2:30 p.m. on November 9, around 20 men, allegedly members of the ruling Awami League party’s student wing Chhatra League, beat Alim, a reporter for the online news portal Rajshahi Post, and Rony, a correspondent for the online newspaper Bangladesh Journal, on the Rajshahi College campus in western Bangladesh, according to privately owned news website New Age, the local press freedom group Bangladeshi Journalists in International Media, and Alim, who spoke with CPJ.

“Bangladeshi authorities and the Rajshahi College administration must immediately hold accountable those who attacked student journalists Abdul Alim and Abu Sayed Rony while reporting on the university campus,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator, from Washington, D.C. “The government must take action against the deeply disturbing trend of the Chhatra League’s violence against student journalists on their campuses.”

The journalists were filming an argument between the university vice-principal along with professors and the men, who were led by undergraduate mathematics student Masud Rana, a Chhatra League member who was not permitted to take an examination after repeatedly missing class, according to those sources.

The men recognized Rony, an undergraduate mathematics student, as a journalist, but not Alim, an undergraduate history student, Alim told CPJ.

The men then beat and slapped the journalists, grabbed their collars, and repeatedly pushed them into a wall before they fell unconscious and woke up in the teachers’ lounge. The journalists were taken to the hospital, where Alim was treated for a blood clot in his back and significant bruising throughout his body, and Rony for a severe head inquiry, Alim said.

Following the attack, the journalists learned the perpetrators took their phones, which were returned to them broken, Alim said. Rony did not immediately respond to CPJ’s messages.

The Chhatra League leadership on campus subsequently suspended eight members for their alleged involvement in the attack. University officials have also appointed a committee to investigate the incident, Alim said.

Rony filed a complaint about the attack at the Boalia Police Station, but it was unclear whether a formal investigation had been opened, Alim said, adding that no suspects had been apprehended by the university or police as of November 13.

Rana and the officer-in-charge of the Boalia Police Station did not immediately respond to CPJ’s messages.

On September 24, around 15 to 20 alleged members of the Chhatra League beat student journalist Mosharrof Shah on the University of Chittagong campus.

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

The complaint, which CPJ reviewed, was filed by Md Shahinur Islam, who identified himself to The Daily Star as a reporter for the newspaper Amar Somoy, which supports the ruling Awami League party. It accused the journalists and other unnamed members of the opposition Jamaat-e-Islami party and Bangladesh Nationalist Party of working together to commit “anti-state crimes” and disseminate “conspiratorial news” in a July 27, 2023, Dainik Fulki article.

That article, titled “Asia’s longest-serving prime minister is finally resigning,” covered the resignation announcement of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen but mistakenly used a photo of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, president of the Awami League. The next day, the newspaper published a correction and apology, which CPJ reviewed.

Haque left Dainik Fulki around 2019 and was not involved in the article, the journalist told CPJ.

Sakib said he believed he was being targeted to undermine his campaign in the election for Savar Press Club president, which is set to be held in the coming months. He is opposed by about five journalists who strongly support the Awami League, he said.

Similarly, Haque said he believed he was being targeted for his campaign to be the press club’s organizing secretary. He is opposed by two journalists who strongly support the ruling party, he told CPJ.

The Savar Press Club is a trade group in the Dhaka district that advocates for issues, including wage distribution, labor rights, and journalist safety.

Sakib and Haque said they do not know Islam. Islam told CPJ via messaging app that his complaint was “accurate” and claimed the two journalists were involved in “information terrorism.” Islam did not respond to CPJ’s follow-up question about his journalistic background. CPJ called, messaged, and emailed the Amar Somoy newspaper for comment, but did not receive any replies.

Separately, on July 30, Sakib received a notice from the Dhaka district deputy commissioner’s office, reviewed by CPJ, ordering the journalist to explain within seven days why Dainik Fulki’s license to operate should not be canceled following an application filed by Manjurul Alam Rajib, chair of a local government unit and an Awami League leader in Savar. The notice alleges that the July 27 article “achieved the task of tarnishing the image of the state.”

Sakib’s response, dated August 6 and reviewed by CPJ, denied that allegation, expressed regret over the “unintentional mistake,” and mentioned the published correction and apology. Haque told CPJ that he did not receive a similar notice at that time.

Bangladesh’s next national election is set for January 2024 and expected to be met with increasing violence. In late July 2023, police fired at opposition party protesters with tear gas, rubber bullets, water cannons, and beat them amid mass arrests of Bangladesh Nationalist Party leaders and activists.

In response to the government’s announcement on August 7 that the Digital Security Act will be replaced, CPJ called on authorities to ensure the new Cyber Security Act complies with international human rights law.

Hasan Mahmud, Bangladesh’s information minister and Awami League joint secretary, and Dipak Chandra Saha, officer-in-charge of the Savar Model Police Station, did not respond to CPJ’s requests for comment sent via messaging app. CPJ also contacted Rajib and Anisur Rahman, Dhaka district deputy commissioner, via messaging app for comment, but did not receive any replies.

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

At around 10 p.m. on Wednesday, June 14, a group of men ambushed Nadim, a correspondent for privately owned website Banglanews24 and broadcaster Ekattor TV, while he was traveling home on his motorcycle in the Bakshiganj area in the Jamalpur district of northern Mymensingh division, according to news reports, security footage of the incident published by Ekattor TV, and a witness account by Al Mujaheed, a journalist present at the scene.

A group of 15 to 20 men dragged Nadim to a dark alley, where they severely beat him and left him unconscious before he was taken to the hospital by bystanders. The journalist died the next day from excessive blood loss caused by a severe head injury.

Nadim’s family believes he was targeted in retaliation for his May 2023 series of reports for Banglanews24 about Mahmudul Alam Babu, chair of a local government unit and member of the ruling Awami League party, according to those reports. Babu denied any involvement in the attack.

Sohel Rana, officer-in-charge of the Bakshiganj police station, said six people had been arrested in connection with the attack, Prothom Alo reported Friday.

“We condemn the killing of Bangladeshi journalist Golam Rabbani Nadim in apparent retaliation for his reporting on a local politician,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “Bangladesh authorities must ensure that all those involved in this attack are brought to justice and end the country’s appalling record of impunity pertaining to violence against journalists.”

Al Mujaheed said in his witness account that Babu was at the scene and directing the attackers from a distance. CPJ’s calls to Babu, who was reported to be in hiding as of Friday evening, did not connect. CPJ’s text message to Babu did not immediately receive a response.

Nadim’s May articles concerned issues in Babu’s marriage, including a press conference by a woman who alleged the politician secretly married her, then abused and divorced her. Nadim also posted about the allegations on Facebook.

In mid-May, Babu filed a complaint against Nadim under the Digital Security Act for that reporting. Hours before the attack, Nadim posted on Facebook that a court had dismissed the case.

The Rapid Action Battalion, a paramilitary unit of the Bangladesh police, has joined the probe into Nadim’s death. CPJ’s calls and messages to Rana and Khandaker Al Moyeen, director of the legal and media wing of the Rapid Action Battalion, did not immediately receive a reply.

Local press groups, the Bangladeshi Journalists in International Media and the Bakshiganj Press Club, both condemned the killing, saying Nadim, who was also vice president of the Jamalpur District Online Journalists Association, was targeted due to his reporting.

Al Mujaheed told CPJ via messaging app, and Raju, Nadim’s brother-in-law, told CPJ by phone separately that they were unable to immediately comment.

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

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.

Dainik Dinkal suspended operations on February 20 after the Bangladesh Press Council, a quasi-judicial, government-funded body headed by a former High Court judge, rejected its appeal against a government shutdown order, Biswas told CPJ.

“The shutdown of Dainik Dinkal is a blatant attack on media freedom ahead of Bangladesh’s January 2024 national election,” said Carlos Martinez de la Serna, CPJ’s program director, in New York. “Closing a newspaper violates the democratic principles purportedly espoused by the Awami League-led government, and we call on the Bangladesh Press Council to review its order and uphold the free flow of information.”  

The district administration in the capital, Dhaka, accused Dainik Dinkal on December 26 of violating local law on grounds that its publisher was a convicted criminal, but the publisher named in the order resigned the post in 2016, Biswas said.

Biswas told CPJ that the newspaper had filed documentation before the Press Council’s ruling that Tarique Rahman, acting chair of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), was no longer Dainik Dinkal’s publisher. Rahman has been convicted of several criminal and money laundering charges, and lives overseas.  

Dainik Dinkal covers BNP activities and has frequently criticized the ruling Awami League party, including the arrests of BNP politicians and supporters in what rights groups have characterized as a crackdown ahead of elections next year. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said the polls will be “fair and free.”

CPJ emailed Mohammad Mominur Rahman, the Dhaka deputy commissioner who filed the government order, and Mohammed Nizamul Huq Nasim, head of the Bangladesh Press Council and its three-member appeal board, but did not receive any replies.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Arlene Getz/CPJ Editorial Director.

On December 25, in the Rangunia region of the southeastern Chittagong division, a group of six to seven men confronted Azad, a reporter covering the environment and politics for the privately owned newspaper The Business Standard, while he was photographing brick kilns that were allegedly operating illegally, according to multiple news reports and the journalist, who spoke with CPJ by phone.

Azad identified himself as a journalist, and the men then forced him into a vehicle at gunpoint, and they threatened to kill him; they then beat him and brought him to a local government official’s office, where they assaulted him further and robbed him, he told CPJ, saying he was released after about 90 minutes.

Azad suffered a neck fracture and pain in his chest, abdomen, and hands, according to the journalist and medical documents that CPJ reviewed.

“The abduction and gruesome beating of Abu Azad demonstrate the grave dangers facing journalists who cover environmental issues in Bangladesh,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “Authorities must swiftly and thoroughly investigate this incident and hold the perpetrators accountable. Bangladesh must put an end to its dreadful record of impunity involving attacks on journalists.”

Azad told CPJ that one of the attackers was Mohiuddin Talukder Mohan, a member of the Islampur Union Parishad government unit, and said he was brought to Mohan’s office, where three additional men joined the others. The men deactivated the office’s security cameras, beat him with their hands and pistols, kicked him repeatedly, and confiscated his mobile phone, wallet, and identification card, Azad told CPJ.

At the office, Mohan called Sirajul Islam Chowdhury, chair of the Islampur Union Parishad, who threatened the journalist, saying, “nothing will happen if a journalist like you was killed,” and then ordered the men to beat Azad further and destroy his phone, Azad told CPJ.

The men withdrew all the money from Azad’s mobile banking app, bKash, and stole 10,000 taka (US$97) in cash that he carried with him, the journalist told CPJ, adding that they demanded an additional 50,000 taka (US$486) as ransom, which he did not provide.

While releasing him, one of the men hit Azad on the neck with a steel rod, the journalist told CPJ. As of Wednesday, January 4, Azad had not received his phone, wallet, money, or identification card, he said.

CPJ contacted Mohan via messaging app for comment but did not receive any reply. CPJ texted Chowdhury for comment but did not receive any response.

On December 26, Azad filed a police complaint against 10 people, including Mohan and Chowdhury, for assault, extortion, kidnapping, and attempted murder, according to the journalist and The Business Standard.

Police arrested one suspect that day, identified as the manager of a brick kiln, who appeared in court on Wednesday, January 4, and was ordered to be transferred to jail, the journalist and The Business Standard said. On Tuesday, January 3, the Bangladesh High Court granted anticipatory bail to Mohan and Chowdhury, protecting them from arrest for four weeks, Azad said, adding that the other suspects have not been apprehended.

CPJ sent a request for comment via messaging app to Md Mahbub Milky, officer-in-charge at the Rangunia Model Police Station, where Azad filed his complaint, but did not receive any response.

Mohan and Chowdhury are both members of the ruling Awami League party and both have business and political interests in the kilns, Azad told CPJ.

CPJ emailed the Awami League for comment but did not receive any reply.

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

On December 25, in the Rangunia region of the southeastern Chittagong division, a group of six to seven men confronted Azad, a reporter covering the environment and politics for the privately owned newspaper The Business Standard, while he was photographing brick kilns that were allegedly operating illegally, according to multiple news reports and the journalist, who spoke with CPJ by phone.

Azad identified himself as a journalist, and the men then forced him into a vehicle at gunpoint, and they threatened to kill him; they then beat him and brought him to a local government official’s office, where they assaulted him further and robbed him, he told CPJ, saying he was released after about 90 minutes.

Azad suffered a neck fracture and pain in his chest, abdomen, and hands, according to the journalist and medical documents that CPJ reviewed.

“The abduction and gruesome beating of Abu Azad demonstrate the grave dangers facing journalists who cover environmental issues in Bangladesh,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “Authorities must swiftly and thoroughly investigate this incident and hold the perpetrators accountable. Bangladesh must put an end to its dreadful record of impunity involving attacks on journalists.”

Azad told CPJ that one of the attackers was Mohiuddin Talukder Mohan, a member of the Islampur Union Parishad government unit, and said he was brought to Mohan’s office, where three additional men joined the others. The men deactivated the office’s security cameras, beat him with their hands and pistols, kicked him repeatedly, and confiscated his mobile phone, wallet, and identification card, Azad told CPJ.

At the office, Mohan called Sirajul Islam Chowdhury, chair of the Islampur Union Parishad, who threatened the journalist, saying, “nothing will happen if a journalist like you was killed,” and then ordered the men to beat Azad further and destroy his phone, Azad told CPJ.

The men withdrew all the money from Azad’s mobile banking app, bKash, and stole 10,000 taka (US$97) in cash that he carried with him, the journalist told CPJ, adding that they demanded an additional 50,000 taka (US$486) as ransom, which he did not provide.

While releasing him, one of the men hit Azad on the neck with a steel rod, the journalist told CPJ. As of Wednesday, January 4, Azad had not received his phone, wallet, money, or identification card, he said.

CPJ contacted Mohan via messaging app for comment but did not receive any reply. CPJ texted Chowdhury for comment but did not receive any response.

On December 26, Azad filed a police complaint against 10 people, including Mohan and Chowdhury, for assault, extortion, kidnapping, and attempted murder, according to the journalist and The Business Standard.

Police arrested one suspect that day, identified as the manager of a brick kiln, who appeared in court on Wednesday, January 4, and was ordered to be transferred to jail, the journalist and The Business Standard said. On Tuesday, January 3, the Bangladesh High Court granted anticipatory bail to Mohan and Chowdhury, protecting them from arrest for four weeks, Azad said, adding that the other suspects have not been apprehended.

CPJ sent a request for comment via messaging app to Md Mahbub Milky, officer-in-charge at the Rangunia Model Police Station, where Azad filed his complaint, but did not receive any response.

Mohan and Chowdhury are both members of the ruling Awami League party and both have business and political interests in the kilns, Azad told CPJ.

CPJ emailed the Awami League for comment but did not receive any reply.

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

On August 19, police in southeastern Sindh province’s Thatta district arrested Samoo, a reporter for the privately owned daily newspaper Awami Awaz and president of the local Bandar Press Club, according to statements by two local press freedom groups and Latafullah Samoo, the journalist’s brother, who spoke to CPJ by phone.

Latafullah Samoo told CPJ on the evening of Tuesday, August 23, that a local court had granted his brother’s bail earlier that day and he had been released.

Separately, on Monday, authorities in the Sindh provincial capital of Karachi arrested Farooqui, an anchor with the privately owned broadcaster BOL News and host of a YouTube channel with about 120,000 subscribers, according to multiple news reports and a statement by the Pakistan Press Foundation, a local press freedom group.

Following his arrest, a Karachi court transferred Farooqui to the custody of the Islamabad police, and on Tuesday an Islamabad court granted police two additional days to hold Farooqui pending further investigation, according to those sources.

“Pakistan authorities must end their campaign of harassment and intimidation of journalists in retaliation for their work,” said Carlos Martinez de la Serna, CPJ’s program director. “Authorities should swiftly and unconditionally release journalist Jameel Farooqui, cease harassing him and journalist Ilyas Samoo, and allow them to continue their work without interference.”

In Samoo’s case, the police first information report, a document which opens an investigation, accuses the journalist of carrying an illegal weapon in violation of the Sindh Arms Act, according to a copy of the report, which CPJ reviewed.

Latafullah Samoo told CPJ that he believed authorities had targeted Samoo in retaliation for his reporting on flood-affected areas in Thatta district and said that, shortly before his brother’s arrest, the journalist had received a threatening call and text message warning him to stop that reporting.

Samoo’s reporting, which CPJ reviewed, alleged that authorities had a lackluster response to the floods, which killed at least 239 people.

If charged and convicted of carrying an illegal weapon, Samoo could face up to 14 years in prison and an unspecified fine, according to the law.

In Farooqui’s case, authorities arrested the journalist in relation to a first information report registered in Islamabad, accusing him of three counts of defamation and one of obstructing the work of a public servant, according to those news reports.

The allegations stem from an August 18 video on Farooqui’s YouTube channel in which he accused the Islamabad police of sexually and physically abusing Shehbaz Gill, a leader of the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, according to those reports.

The sections of the penal code pertaining to defamation can carry a prison sentence of up to two years and an unspecified fine, and obstructing a public servant can carry a prison sentence of one year and a fine of 50,000 rupees (US$231).

In a video posted to Twitter by the PTI on Monday, Farooqui alleged that that police had stripped and beaten him in custody.

On August 21, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, the country’s broadcast regulator, banned the broadcasting of live speeches from former Prime Minister Imran Khan of the PTI party, according to news reports.

The Islamabad and Sindh police departments did not respond to CPJ’s emailed requests for comment.

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