“CPJ is deeply disturbed by the killing of journalists Hasan Mehedi, Md. Shakil Hossain, and Abu Taher Md Turab while they were reporting on the quota protests in Bangladesh,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Beh Lih Yi. “The Bangladesh government must hold to account those responsible for all assaults on journalists and fully restore internet and phone services to allow the free flow of information needed to cover matters of public interest.”

Bangladesh authorities imposed an internet shutdown and severely disrupted mobile services on July 18. Broadband internet was partially restored in limited areas on Tuesday evening, but mobile services and social media remained blocked as of July 26.

Mehedi, a reporter for the news website Dhaka Times, was fatally shot on July 18 while covering clashes in the Jatrabari area of Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, according to news reports. Dhaka Times editor Arifur Rahman Dolon told CPJ that Mehedi was killed by law enforcement officials, but limited internet availability prevented him providing additional details.

Hossain, a correspondent for Daily Bhorer Awaj newspaper, was also killed on July 18 while reporting in Bangladesh’s central Gazipur city, according to the Sweden-based investigative news website Netra News and the journalists’ association Dhaka Reporters Unity.

Turab, a reporter for the Daily Jalalabad and Daily Naya Diganta newspapers, was wearing a press vest when he was fatally shot by police firing into a July 19 procession of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party in northeast Sylhet city, according to New Age newspaper and a Daily Jalalabad reporter, who spoke to CPJ anonymously for fear of reprisal.

Meanwhile on July 18, protesters set fire to the headquarters of state-run Bangladesh Television in Dhaka, as well as several of the broadcaster’s vehicles, when riot police retreated inside the premises.  

CPJ has confirmed attacks on the 14 journalists listed below and is continuing to investigate reports that dozens more have been assaulted either by police, protesters, or supporters of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of the ruling Awami League party. Of the 14, several required hospital treatment for injuries including head wounds.

Police attacks

July 16
Police fired rubber bullets at newspaper correspondents Mehedi Mamun (Daily Bonik Barta); Wajahatul Islam, (Daily Janakantha); Abdur Rahman Khan Sarjil, (Dainik Bangla), and freelancer Jubayer Ahmed, despite their identifying themselves as journalists covering demonstrations at Jahangirnagar University (JU), on the outskirts of Dhaka, Mamun and Islam told CPJ.

July 17
– Police grabbed the phone of Abdullah Al Mamun, a correspondent for Prothom Alo newspaper, while he was recording police action against students trying to leave JU’s campus. Al Mamun told CPJ that, despite identifying himself as a journalist and showing his press card, officers beat him with rifles and batons and fired a rubber bullet at him as he tried to flee.

– Shadique Mahbub Islam, a features writer for The Business Standard newspaper, told CPJ that police fired sound grenades at him and two other unidentified reporters while they were photographing a protester’s arrest at the Dhaka University (DU) campus. Police trying to surround protesting students again fired two sound grenades and tear gas in front of Islam later that day.

July 18
– Muktadir Rashid, a correspondent for Bangla Outlook website, told CPJ that he was hit with birdshot pellets as police and ruling party activists fired at protesters near Dhaka’s Mirpur police station.

– Jibon Ahmed, a photojournalist for Daily Manab Zamin newspaper, told CPJ that police in Dhaka fired lead pellets at a group reporting in the same area after he raised his hands and identified himself and around seven others as journalists.

Chhatra League attacks

July 15
– The Business Standard’s Islam told CPJ that despite showing his press identification, Chhatra League supporters beat him with rods and threw bricks at him as they forcibly dispersed protesters at DU’s campus.

– Prabir Das, a senior photographer for The Daily Star newspaper, told CPJ that Chhatra League supporters beat him with sticks while he was reporting from DU’s campus. Dipu Malakar, photojournalist for Prothom Alo newspaper, said he was also reporting on campus when a Chhatra League supporter threw a brick at him.

July 16
Chhatra League supporters beat Sakib Ahmed, a correspondent for the South Asian Times, with a rod and snatched his press card while he was reporting at JU, the journalist told CPJ.

Protester attacks

July 11
Protesters in the Shahbagh area of Dhaka pushed Somoy TV reporter Toha Khan Tamim and hit him with a helmet. Demonstrators also damaged the camera of the broadcaster’s senior video journalist Prince Arefin before chasing him, according to Omar Faroque, the broadcaster’s chief input editor.

July 16
Protesters in northern Bogura city beat Jamuna Television senior reporter and local bureau chief Meherul Sujon with bamboo sticks while he was wearing a press card and carrying a microphone, the journalist told CPJ.

Bangladesh’s state information minister Mohammad Ali Arafat and Chhatra League president Saddam Hussain did not respond to CPJ’s requests for comment sent via messaging app.

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

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.