On Thursday, May 2, Muhiyadin—who has been detained since his February 13 arrest—was sentenced to two years in prison by the Fafen Zone High Court in Jigjiga, the capital of Ethiopia’s Somali Regional State, in connection with commentary he published on his Facebook page, Muxiyediin Show, according to a person with knowledge of the proceedings who spoke to CPJ on condition of anonymity, citing safety concerns. Muhiyadin immediately appealed the conviction, according to the source.

“Muhiyadin Mohamed Abdullahi has already been imprisoned for nearly three months and his sentencing to two years in prison is a painful reminder of the ongoing repression of media in Ethiopia,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator, Muthoki Mumo. “Prosecutors should not contest the appeal of Muhiyadin’s conviction, and authorities should ensure that journalists do not face prison time for their critical reporting and commentary.”

Authorities alleged that Muhiyadin was inciting the public in a now-deleted Facebook post in which the journalist said that he was “angry and sad” about road closures in Jigjiga during a holiday celebration by “nonbelievers” who are “cursed in the Quran.”

Muhiyadin’s case has been characterized by several due process concerns. Following his arrest by unidentified security personnel, Muhiyadin was detained incommunicado for six days before he was transferred to a local police station, and he did not receive a court hearing until February 20, as CPJ previously documented. Article 19 of Ethiopia’s constitution requires arrested persons to be produced in court within 48 hours of arrest. On March 28, a panel of three judges granted Muhiyadin bail of 30,000 Ethiopian birr (US$523), which the journalist posted. However, the police refused to release him, according to a person with knowledge of the proceedings.

Ethiopia was the second-worst jailer of journalists in sub-Saharan Africa according to CPJ’s 2023 prison census, an annual report that documents the number of journalists behind bars as of December 1 each year.

CPJ sent a message to Abdikadir Rashid Duale, head of the Somali Regional State’s Communication Bureau, via a messaging app for comment on Muhiyadin’s sentence but did not receive an immediate reply.

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

Cyberattacks by unidentified perpetrators have targeted at least nine independent media outlets and multiple journalists in Kazakhstan since November 2023, according to data shared with CPJ by local press freedom group Adil Soz, which issued a statement on the attacks January 19, 2024, and several of the journalists, who spoke to CPJ.

The attacks, which have targeted well-known independent media including news agency KazTAG, and popular social media-based outlets like AIRAN and Obozhayu, included distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks and blocking of outlets’ social media accounts through orchestrated mass complaints, causing media to lose access to their audiences and incurring heavy financial costs, those journalists told CPJ.

The latest wave follows a previous series of cyberattacks and physical attacks on independent journalists in Kazakhstan in late 2022 and early 2023. In March, authorities arrested and later convicted five people in connection with those incidents, including one who admitted to ordering the attacks. Despite those convictions, Karla Jamankulova, head of Adil Soz, told CPJ that cyberattacks against the independent press have continued throughout 2023 and intensified since November.

“Kazakhstan’s continuing epidemic of cyberattacks on the press poses a threat not just to the individual outlets targeted but has become a systemic threat to the country’s media and demands a concomitant response,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, in New York. “Authorities in Kazakhstan must conduct a swift and thorough investigation into these attacks and hold all those responsible to account.”

According to data from Adil Soz, the organization recorded 56 incidents of cyberattacks on media outlets and journalists in 2023, up from 37 in 2022. Of those cyberattacks, 36 were against the websites and social media pages of media outlets, and 20 of them targeted the social media accounts of individual journalists.

Since November, DDoS attacks have targeted the websites of at least four independent media – KazTAG, independent news outlet Nege.kz, and business news outlets Kursiv.Media and inbusiness.kz, causing them to be inaccessible for short periods or load slowly, according to reports and Adil Soz. 

A January 5 statement by KazTAG said that the outlet closed access to its website from outside of Kazakhstan to fight the DDoS attacks, but the attacks later resumed from IP addresses located in the building of majority state-owned telecommunications company Kazakhtelecom. Kazakhtelecom denied involvement.

Over the same period, social media accounts or websites of at least four independent media – Kursiv.Media, and social media-based outlets AIRAN, ProTenge, Shishkin_like, and Obozhayu – were blocked by orchestrated mass complaints or by fake accounts posting banned content that triggered social media companies’ automated blocking systems, according to Adil Soz and several of the outlets, who told CPJ that it can take a long time, or prove impossible, to restore the blocked accounts. Kursiv.Media chief editor Mira Khalina told CPJ the outlet ’s Instagram accounts were blocked for over six weeks and that replacement accounts set up by the outlet remain blocked. Dmitry Shishkin, founder of Shishkin_like, told CPJ the outlet was unable to restore an Instagram account wrongly blocked in April 2023.

Askhat Niyazov, founder of Obozhayu, which covers the work of local authorities, told CPJ that in addition to blocking the outlet’s Telegram channel by flooding it with banned violent and pornographic content, perpetrators hacked or blocked the Instagram and WhatsApp accounts of Niyazov, two of the outlet’s journalists, and Niyazov’s parents and wife. Around 4,000 fake accounts left the comment “R.I.P.” under one of the outlet’s YouTube videos.

Mikhail Kozachkov, author of the popular Telegram channel Kozachkov offside, told CPJ that the channel has removed around 750,000 fake accounts posting banned or offensive content since October 2023. In November, dozens of fake Telegram accounts under Kozachkov’s name spread calls for interethnic violence, which is subject to heavy penalties under Kazakh law.

Jamankulova of Adil Soz told CPJ the ongoing attacks are having a “huge impact” on the functioning of independent Kazakh media, which often struggle financially and are forced to divert significant resources to deal with the cyberattacks. Khalina told CPJ that the attacks have cost Kursiv.Media over 19 million tenge (US$42,300) in redirected resources, lost advertising revenue, and other costs.

In January, six of the outlets filed a police complaint over the attacks but are still waiting for police to respond, Khalina said. She described the attacks as an attempt to “disable” independent journalism.

Maricheva of ProTenge told CPJ that while it remains unclear who might be behind the attacks, which usually cost tens of thousands of dollars, they require resources typically available only to wealthy business interests and those with access to state resources.

In November, a closed-doors court in the southern city of Almaty convicted Arkady Klebanov, the son of a former member of the Kazakh elite, of ordering attacks on journalists in late 2022 and early 2023, but declared him insane and ordered him to undergo psychiatric treatment. Several of the journalists targeted by those attacks have expressed skepticism that Klebanov was the real instigator of those attacks.

CPJ emailed the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan for comment but did not receive any reply.

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

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of the ruling Awami League party returned to power for her fifth term amid an opposition boycott and low voter turnout. The U.S. State Department said the elections were “not free or fair.”

Mujib Mashal, South Asia bureau chief for The New York Times, told CPJ that the newspaper was denied prior approval by the Bangladesh government to report on the polls.

Separately, on Saturday, January 6, the day before the election, the Daily Manab Zamin newspaper’s website was blocked in Bangladesh following its critical reporting on the government, according to Matiur Rahman Chowdhury, the outlet’s editor-in-chief.

Chowdhury said the outlet did not receive a government notice detailing why the website was blocked, and access was restored on Monday, January 8.

At around 1 p.m. on election day, around 15 to 20 men wearing Awami League badges attacked seven journalists– MA Rahim, a correspondent for the broadcaster Ananda TV, Rimon Hossain, a camera operator with Ananda TV; Masud Rana, a correspondent with the online news portal enews71; Sumon Khan, a correspondent with the broadcaster Mohona TV; Elias Bosunia, a correspondent with the broadcaster Bangla TV; Minaj Islam, a correspondent with the newspaper Daily Vorer Chetona; and Hazrat Ali, a correspondent with the newspaper Dainik Dabanol, during their coverage of an assault on independent candidate Ataur Rahman outside a polling station in northern Lalmonirhat district, according to Rahim and Rana.

The men beat several of the journalists with iron rods and bamboo sticks, beat and pushed others, and broke and confiscated multiple pieces of equipment including cameras and microphones—according to those sources and a complaint filed at the Hatibandha Police Station by Rana, which alleged the perpetrators were led by brothers Md. Zahidul Islam and Md. Mostafa, nephews of the incumbent parliamentarian contested by Rahman.

Md. Zahidul Islam told CPJ that he denied involvement in the attack. Islam did not respond to CPJ’s follow-up question about Mostafa’s alleged involvement in the attack.

Saiful Islam, officer-in-charge of the Hatibandha Police Station, did not respond to CPJ’s request for comment.

Separately, at around 2:40 p.m., around 25 men surrounded Sirajul Islam Rubel, a correspondent for The Daily Star newspaper, and Arafat Rahaman, a reporter for The Daily Star, as they tried to leave a polling station in the capital Dhaka after covering an alleged ballot stuffing attempt by Awami League supporters, Rubel told CPJ.

The men grabbed the journalists’ phones, deleted their video footage and photos of the incident, and blocked their exit from the center along with Daily Star reporter Dipan Nandy, who subsequently joined Rubel and Rahaman to report from the station. The trio managed to leave with the assistance of police at around 3:05 p.m., Rubel said.

Separately, at around 2:45 p.m., around 20 to 25 men beat Mosharrof Shah, a correspondent for the daily newspaper Prothom Alo, after he photographed and filmed alleged ballot stuffing by Awami League supporters at a polling station in southeast Chittagong city, the journalist told CPJ.

Shah said that while speaking to an electoral officer about the incident, the men approached the journalist, took his notebook where he wrote what he observed, and deleted footage from his mobile phone in the presence of police. The men repeatedly slapped and punched Shah before he managed to flee the scene after around 30 minutes, the journalist told CPJ, adding that he received his phone back around one hour later with the assistance of his journalist colleagues.

Shah identified one of the perpetrators as Nurul Absar, general secretary of a local unit of the Chhatra League, the student wing of the Awami League. Absar did not respond to CPJ’s request for comment.

Previously, on September 24, alleged members of the Chhatra League attacked Shah on the University of Chittagong campus.

Separately, at around 4 p.m., a group of 20 to 30 men surrounded and assaulted Saif Bin Ayub, a sub-editor for the Daily Kalbela newspaper, and took his laptop, phone, other personal items while he was photographing alleged ballot stuffing by Awami League supporters inside a polling center in Dhaka, the journalist told CPJ.

The men pushed Bin Ayub against a wall and punched him, kicked him in the abdomen, and scratched him while forcibly removing his press identification card from around his neck. The perpetrators then dragged him out of the building as he requested help from police present at the scene, the journalist said. 

Officers did not intervene and the beating continued outside for around 15 minutes, the journalist said, adding that he received his phone and broken laptop back later that day but not his wallet, wristwatch and other items.

Separately, at around 4:30 p.m., around eight to 10 men—including electoral officials and teenagers wearing Awami League badges—pushed Sam Jahan, a Reuters video journalist, out of a vote counting room in a polling station in Dhaka. Two of the teenagers then chased Jahan out of the station, he told CPJ.

Separately, Awami League supporters surrounded and obstructed the work of four journalists with the New Age newspaper—correspondent Muktadir Rashid, photojournalist Sourav Laskar, and reporters Nasir Uz Zaman and Tanzil Rahaman—during their coverage of polling stations in Dhaka, Rashid told CPJ.

Separately, unidentified perpetrators threw bricks from behind at Mohiuddin Modhu, a news presenter and correspondent for the broadcaster Jamuna Television, after the journalist tried to speak to a young teenager who attempted to cast a ballot in the Nawabganj sub-district of Dhaka district.

Biplab Barua, Awami League office secretary and special aide to Prime Minister Hasina, told CPJ that law enforcement took swift action regarding all attacks on journalists on election day. Barua added that the government is committed to launching investigations into all such incidents and bringing the perpetrators to justice.

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

Historian Rashid Khalidi discusses the pending United Nations Security Council vote on suspending fighting in Gaza to allow the entry of humanitarian aid, and the future of Palestine. The Biden administration reportedly delayed the U.N. vote and pushed other countries to water down the language. This comes as Israel and Hamas leaders have signaled they are open to another truce and hostage exchange. Israel’s relentless assault on Gaza has now killed nearly 20,000 Palestinians and displaced over 90% of the Gaza Strip’s 2.3 million people. “The situation in Gaza is unspeakable,” says Khalidi, the Edward Said professor of modern Arab studies at Columbia University. “We are talking about traumatic events that are going to scar generations to come.” He also discusses how the Gaza war risks sparking a regional conflict, ways to pressure Israel, and how U.S. leaders are prompting anger from “whole generations” in the Arab world and beyond.

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

In this special broadcast, we air excerpts from a recent event organized by the Palestine Festival of Literature at the Union Theological Seminary here in New York. The event featured a discussion between the acclaimed writer Ta-Nehisi Coates and Columbia University professor Rashid Khalidi. Coates won the National Book Award for his book Between the World and Me. Rashid Khalidi is the Edward Said professor of modern Arab studies at Columbia. His books include The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine. Their conversation was moderated by civil rights attorney Michelle Alexander.

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

This content originally appeared on The Intercept and was authored by Intercepted.

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Josh Frank.

President Biden is in Israel to show more support for its relentless assault on the Gaza Strip, which has reduced much of the territory to rubble, killed at least 3,300 Palestinians and displaced more than a million people. Israel also continues to maintain a complete siege, refusing to let in food, water, fuel, medicines and other necessities. Meanwhile, international outrage is growing over a massive explosion at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital that killed hundreds of people on Tuesday. Palestinian authorities say it was an Israeli airstrike, while Israel has claimed a failed rocket launch by Gaza militants caused the blast. “Whoever was responsible, the result will be enormous, enormous anger at the United States for its support of Israel, as well as a further increase in this enormous death toll inside Gaza,” says Palestinian American historian Rashid Khalidi, the Edward Said professor of modern Arab studies at Columbia University.

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

In New York, we speak with Rashid Khalidi, author of The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine, who lays out how this weekend’s extreme violence between Hamas and Israel will force “a paradigm shift.” Colonial powers will no longer believe they can force people to live under the conditions Israel has subjected Palestinians to and expect no retaliation of the oppressed, says Khalidi. “That idea has exploded as a result of the horrific events over the past two-and-a-half days,” says Khalidi, who calls the blockade of Gaza “a pressure cooker. It had to explode.” In response to the escalated conflict, the U.S. promised Israel would have “what it needs to defend itself,” pledging more military aid and munitions to Israel, already the largest annual recipient of U.S. military funding, as the Biden administration moved warships toward Israel. “We finance this occupation. We finance this violence,” says Khalidi, who calls on Biden to defuse the situation instead of escalating it. “You cannot make peace over the bodies of Palestinians.”

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

“I was ready to die,” he told CPJ. “They accused me of being a spy for the Sudanese army, and when they searched my Facebook and found out that I am a freelance journalist who is not working for a specific outlet, they let me go.”  

Battles between RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), former allies who jointly seized power in a 2021 coup, have made headlines around the world. Hundreds of civilians have died, hundreds of thousands have been displaced, and thousands of foreigners have been evacuated. But Sudanese journalists have been hampered in covering the events since fighting broke out April 15 due to tensions over the Sudanese army’s integration of the RSF. The two sides signed a shaky ceasefire in late May, but it has been repeatedly breached. 

According to reporters on the ground and statements by the local trade union, the Sudanese Journalists Syndicate, journalists have been beaten, detained, and interrogated. While the RSF appears to be responsible for most of the incidents, SAF forces also beat BBC correspondent Mohamed Othman last month, the syndicate said. (Othman and the BBC did not return requests for comment; CPJ’s emails requesting comment from the SAF and the RSF were not returned.) 

In general, the fighting has proved disruptive to newsgathering as many journalists, along with other civilians, have been trapped at home or work due to violence on the street. There have also been internet blackouts. 

On May 16, RSF soldiers detained Al-Jazeera journalists Ahmed Fadl and Rashid Gibril at a checkpoint in Khartoum. The journalists were held overnight. The next day, RSF soldiers raided Fadl’s house, where Gibril happened to be at the time, and threatened and beat the journalists and stole their cell phones, money, clothes, and Fadl’s car. On May 18, RSF forces also beat and robbed freelance journalist Eissa Dafaallah while he was filming the aftermath of fighting in the city of Nyala.  

Salem Mahmoud, a correspondent for Saudi broadcaster Al-Arabiya, was delivering a live report on April 29 when an RSF military vehicle parked nearby and interrupted his coverage. Video of the report shows RSF soldiers asking Mahmoud about his work before driving away. 

“Moving between Omdurman and Khartoum to cover the news is very difficult,” Mahmoud told CPJ in a phone interview. “Whenever we go anywhere, we come across a checkpoint where soldiers stop us, ask us who we work for, what we are reporting on. You never feel safe while working. They can arrest you at any moment. And when they do, they can confiscate your equipment before letting you go.” 

News organizations have also been targeted. On April 15, the RSF raided and seized control of the state television headquarters in Omdurman and stopped its broadcast. (The army denied that this happened at the time, according to Reuters.) Fifteen journalists and media workers were trapped inside the building with no food, Sudanese Journalists Syndicate chairman Abdel Moniem Abu Idris told CPJ. One group was released after two weeks and another after three following negotiations with RSF soldiers. As of late May, the broadcast has not resumed and RSF soldiers are still in control of two state television buildings, he said. 

Hala 96, a local independent radio station, shut down due to signal interruptions on April 15, according to the outlet’s social media officer Mohamed Hashem. He told CPJ that the station’s employees believe that RSF forces occupied the building weeks later when a widely circulated video showed armed individuals inside using the office equipment and threatening the military.  

According to the syndicate, closures like these have forced dozens of journalists out of their jobs.

Some journalists have also fled. Freelance journalist Ismail Kushkush was trapped in his apartment in downtown Khartoum for over a week with no electricity. He covered the conflict from inside his apartment, before fleeing to Egypt. 

“We knew that the building was surrounded by RSF soldiers, so we were concerned that they might storm the building and take over our apartments,” he told CPJ. “Personally, I was concerned about them finding out I am a reporter since I heard from one resident in the building who spoke to an RSF soldier that they wanted to make sure that there were no SAF soldiers or reporters in the building. So, when I was leaving the building, I hid my phone in my pants so they don’t find any of the footage I took from my balcony.”  

Abuabkar, the journalist who was shot by RSF forces, is now also in Egypt. 

“Once my wound got better, I went to Cairo temporarily. Even though there isn’t a lot of opportunities for us [journalists] over there, but it is just safer,” he said. “Honestly, if the current clashes continue in Sudan for a much longer time, I think I will have to go anywhere in Europe and try to start a new life from scratch. It is just too dangerous in Sudan right now.” 

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program.

Since May 16, soldiers with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have beaten and robbed at least three journalists and detained two of them overnight, according to news reports and Abdelmoneim Abu Idris, chair of the Sudanese Journalists Syndicate trade union, who spoke to CPJ.

Fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF broke out in April in part due to tensions over the Sudanese army’s attempted integration of the RSF, and has left at least 700 people dead and thousands injured.

“By detaining, assaulting, and robbing journalists, Sudan’s RSF forces are showing the extent they are willing to go to obstruct free reporting on the country’s conflict,” said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Sherif Mansour. “Authorities must ensure that all those who target journalists are held accountable so the press can work safely.”

On May 16, RSF soldiers detained Ahmed Fadl, a reporter for Qatari broadcaster Al-Jazeera, and Rashid Gibril, a photographer for the outlet, at a checkpoint in the capital city of Khartoum, according to news reports and Abu Idris.

RSF forces held the journalists overnight and released them on May 17. The following day, RSF soldiers raided Fadl’s house in Khartoum, where Gibril happened to be at the time, and threatened both journalists, beat them, and stole their cell phones, money, clothes, and Fadl’s car, according to those sources.

In a separate incident on May 18, RSF soldiers stopped freelance journalist Eissa Dafaallah while he was filming the aftermath of fighting in the city of Nyala, in the western region of Darfur, and proceeded to beat him and steal his cell phone and money, even after he identified himself as a member of the press.

CPJ was unable to immediately determine the extent of the journalists’ injuries from those beatings. CPJ emailed the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF for comment but did not receive any replies.

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

Nomani, chief news editor of the privately owned newspaper The Daily Shahnama and editor of the Barisal Khabar news website, is due in court on April 4 to face charges against him and two others under two sections of the Digital Security Act stemming from a 2020 case, according to the journalist, who spoke with CPJ by phone, and a copy of the chargesheet reviewed by CPJ.

The charges stem from a complaint alleging that Nomani and two of his friends secretly filmed a local mayor and his family. Nomani told CPJ that he denies the allegations.

“It is absurd that Bangladesh authorities have charged journalist Mamunur Rashid Nomani under the draconian Digital Security Act in a years-old case without any concrete evidence,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “Authorities must immediately withdraw the charges against Nomani and cease harassing journalists under the Digital Security Act, which has repeatedly been used to muzzle the press.”

The chargesheet alleges that Nomani and his friends violated sections of the Digital Security Act pertaining to the unauthorized collection of personal information and holding or transferring data illegally.

Police opened an investigation into the three on September 13, 2020, following a complaint by Syed Ahmed Manna, a local official with the ruling Awami League party. Nomani was detained in relation to the case for 17 days in September 2020.

Manna accused the three of secretly filming Serniabat Sadiq Abdullah, mayor of the Barisal City Corporation and general secretary of the Awami League’s Barisal branch, along with Abdullah’s wife and children.

Authorities formally charged Nomani in July 2022 but did not inform the journalist, he said, adding that a clerk at the Barisal Cyber Tribunal informed him about the charges when he applied to extend his interim bail in late December 2022.

In a forensic report dated January 25, 2021, which CPJ reviewed, the Dhaka police criminal investigation department stated it was unable to conclude whether Nomani’s phone was used to film the mayor. In January, Nomani applied for the case to be discharged, citing that report, he said. Nomani said his application will be heard at the April 4 court hearing.

Nomani denied the allegations, claiming that he and his friends greeted Abdullah that night but the mayor and his associates confiscated their phones, severely beat the journalist, and submerged him in a river for several minutes in retaliation for his reporting on the Barisal City Corporation’s alleged lack of action to address flooding in the city.

The two offenses cited in the chargesheet can each carry a maximum prison sentence of five years and a fine of 500,000 to 1,000,000 taka (US$4,674 to $9,348).

CPJ contacted Manna and Abdullah via messaging app, and the Awami League via email, but did not receive any replies. Anwar Hossain, officer-in-charge of the Kotwali police station, and Roy Niyati, a Dhaka police spokesperson, did not respond to CPJ’s requests for comment sent via messaging app.

CPJ has repeatedly documented Bangladesh’s use of the Digital Security Act against journalists in retaliation for their work, and has called on authorities to repeal the law unless it can be promptly amended in line with international human rights standards.

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

Nomani, chief news editor of the privately owned newspaper The Daily Shahnama and editor of the Barisal Khabar news website, is due in court on April 4 to face charges against him and two others under two sections of the Digital Security Act stemming from a 2020 case, according to the journalist, who spoke with CPJ by phone, and a copy of the chargesheet reviewed by CPJ.

The charges stem from a complaint alleging that Nomani and two of his friends secretly filmed a local mayor and his family. Nomani told CPJ that he denies the allegations.

“It is absurd that Bangladesh authorities have charged journalist Mamunur Rashid Nomani under the draconian Digital Security Act in a years-old case without any concrete evidence,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “Authorities must immediately withdraw the charges against Nomani and cease harassing journalists under the Digital Security Act, which has repeatedly been used to muzzle the press.”

The chargesheet alleges that Nomani and his friends violated sections of the Digital Security Act pertaining to the unauthorized collection of personal information and holding or transferring data illegally.

Police opened an investigation into the three on September 13, 2020, following a complaint by Syed Ahmed Manna, a local official with the ruling Awami League party. Nomani was detained in relation to the case for 17 days in September 2020.

Manna accused the three of secretly filming Serniabat Sadiq Abdullah, mayor of the Barisal City Corporation and general secretary of the Awami League’s Barisal branch, along with Abdullah’s wife and children.

Authorities formally charged Nomani in July 2022 but did not inform the journalist, he said, adding that a clerk at the Barisal Cyber Tribunal informed him about the charges when he applied to extend his interim bail in late December 2022.

In a forensic report dated January 25, 2021, which CPJ reviewed, the Dhaka police criminal investigation department stated it was unable to conclude whether Nomani’s phone was used to film the mayor. In January, Nomani applied for the case to be discharged, citing that report, he said. Nomani said his application will be heard at the April 4 court hearing.

Nomani denied the allegations, claiming that he and his friends greeted Abdullah that night but the mayor and his associates confiscated their phones, severely beat the journalist, and submerged him in a river for several minutes in retaliation for his reporting on the Barisal City Corporation’s alleged lack of action to address flooding in the city.

The two offenses cited in the chargesheet can each carry a maximum prison sentence of five years and a fine of 500,000 to 1,000,000 taka (US$4,674 to $9,348).

CPJ contacted Manna and Abdullah via messaging app, and the Awami League via email, but did not receive any replies. Anwar Hossain, officer-in-charge of the Kotwali police station, and Roy Niyati, a Dhaka police spokesperson, did not respond to CPJ’s requests for comment sent via messaging app.

CPJ has repeatedly documented Bangladesh’s use of the Digital Security Act against journalists in retaliation for their work, and has called on authorities to repeal the law unless it can be promptly amended in line with international human rights standards.

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

U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken is in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories amid an alarming rise in violence, with Israel killing at least 35 Palestinians since the beginning of January. The deadliest incident occurred on Thursday, when Israeli forces raided the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank, killing 10 people, including two children — the deadliest Israeli raid in the West Bank in two decades. A day later, a Palestinian gunman shot dead seven people in occupied East Jerusalem, targeting worshipers observing the Sabbath. Israelis living in illegal settlements in the West Bank responded by carrying out scores of attacks on Palestinians as the far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, vowed to make it easier for Israelis to get guns. We speak with Israeli activist and journalist Orly Noy, in Jerusalem, and Palestinian American scholar Rashid Khalidi, the Edward Said professor of modern Arab studies at Columbia University.

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

I always tell people in the beginning, I’m a storyteller and not a painter or a sculptor. Well, I’m all these things, but a storyteller first, so narrative is very important to me in the sense that it guides everything. I don’t know who to attribute this quote to, but there’s a Russian saying to always control the narrative. And we see it play out every day in media—people wanting to own and control the narrative because let’s just say this, the version of history that we’ve been going on is just another narrative. So, I’ve taken the narrative that I was taught and found the malleable points to insert an entirely different narrative that’s totally harmonious and runs in sync with the current narrative, but it’s a different way of looking at the world, a different perspective. I don’t try to change history so much and I don’t think there’s much benefit in changing the narrative because what happened already happened but there were a lot more characters in this show so you just widen the perspective. You don’t change things, but you add some spiritual, fictional accounts.

Humans, we’re very strange creatures. I don’t even think we’re from this planet, to be honest, because we are the only creatures that behave incongruously to the nature of this planet. We’re the only people who truly destroy without giving anything back. Even cockroaches, they still eat litter, but we just destroy things and fuck it up. Totally change some shit to where it can’t even be changed back.

The narrative that we have is based on the history that is already written by the victors. So, the victors of this time would be European or descendants of Europeans. That’s just a moment in time. It wasn’t always thus. Everybody’s had their shot at being the head honcho, and this is just one of those iterations that we just happen to be living through. That’s the way I like to think about it. It takes the bite off of things. Because history is so fluid, and if you think about the entirety of history, power always changes hands. Some group always seizes power. Some groups stay a little bit longer. Some people make really nice recommendations and then they go the way of the dodo.

from Umar Rashid, Battle of Malibu (In Three Parts) 179; Courtesy Plum & Poe

So, the narrative that I did, was more to inform the world that it wasn’t just white people or Europeans conquering the world just willy-nilly and everybody else is just sitting there clutching their pearls or milling some fucking wheat. Especially in the colonial period, the period in which I’m working, which roughly starts in 1658 with the death of Oliver Cromwell, and ends in 1880 with the Portuguese abolition of slavery, and the Berlin Conference and all that stuff. I’m basically talking about building a world where everybody exists. I’m not omitting anything. Yes, there’s slavery. There’s raiding, war, pillaging, raping, and all this stuff left pretty much intact. But I just augmented the narrative by combining France and England together, to Frengland. So, it’s this major superpower. So, because it doesn’t matter, France or England, whatever, it’s just human beings. It shifts things, but you still get a Napoleonic character and you still get a Toussaint Louverture. We actually follow a certain script. Self destruction and worldwide destruction are the name of the game. And we see it played out in the news narrative now, what’s happening in Ethiopia, Ukraine, or anywhere in the world. I try to give an expanded view and combine the modern world with that—the narrative moves with the way the world is going. So, not only am I writing this story about the past, but I’m also talking about the now. And then around 2015, I started adding more future narratives—talking about space, cosmos, and spirituality. Sometimes it’s a little bit prescient because I’m so in tune with these three worlds, past, present, future. I’m not saying I got fucking special powers or anything, but when you do connect yourself to these realms, you gain an ability to predict what’s going to happen, because there’s not very many options. I mean, you can be surprised sometimes, but I’m rarely surprised by anything. So, now, after about 20 years of developing this body of work it’s almost like a fully fleshed out being because of all the stories that exist within it.

History often repeats itself so it can be depressing to think about the future if you reflect on the past. Is there optimism in examining an expanded historical narrative while pushing forward?

Optimism or pessimism are just two different sides of whatever they are balanced upon so I’m always that third stream guy. It’s just my nature to always be in the middle of things. Whenever you choose a position, there’s always going to be an opposite position. No matter what you do, it always dichotomizes. It always breaks down, boom, boom, boom, boom. I vacillate between optimism and pessimism, but I usually find myself in that bottom swing of the cradle, in that middle part, because that’s where you learn. You don’t learn on either of the extremes, but you have to go through the extremes so you can understand. You just can’t stay there.

You have such an encyclopedic mind bursting with historical details. Is history personal for you and what do you gain from it?

It definitely started off personally because I was trying to find myself. That’s this particular conundrum that Black Americans have. Because when we arrived in the United States, we were stripped of knowledge of our ancestral lands, of our religions and culture. And when we got here, we had to create a culture from scratch. So, it’s not to say that Black Americans are bereft of culture, it’s just a hodgepodge of a lot of different things that we had to create in order to exist here on our own terms. So, that’s where it started but then I wanted to know more about my ancient lineage. Like, you are the son of blah, blah, blah, the great king of, but that never worked out. So, that’s how it started off, this search for who I was.

And then, because it’s a global narrative, I was researching the cultures of other people. It started off with trying to find different Native American polities and how they responded to being completely decimated. And then moving over to the Caribbean and thinking about the Taíno culture, or the Carib culture, the Arawak culture. And then going into South America and the Quechua culture. All over the world you’ll find these people who’ve been historically marginalized. And so, you see how people cope. The Hmong people in Vietnam make these wonderful story cloths. They’re not Vietnamese, they’re not Chinese but they have their own cultural identity because it was a tapestry of all the experiences. So, once you expand, it’s not about you. You have to have a degree of selflessness and allow yourself to be obliterated and remade in the image of all of the things that you can possibly conceive. And so, that’s what I did. I had to obliterate myself to really absorb everything else. And so, now I have this cosmic perspective. I think the best thing is to obliterate yourself—to let that ego go, suffer ego death.

So, post obliteration, in your new formation, what energizes you to do the work you do, and where does it get hard for you?

Just dedication to the craft, to the work, to the narrative itself. I started this story, and I don’t believe in starting something and not finishing it. Every good story deserves an ending or for you to take it as far as you can. It’s important to me to tell these stories. There are so many characters and a lot of these stories are based on friends. So, I’m invested not only in the story, but I’m invested in the characters. I know how the story begins, I know the middle, and I know how it ends. As far as I want to take it within this corporeal lifetime, I probably still won’t finish it. It’s so much. It’s such a rich history. I’ve been stuck in the 1790s for 15 years. So, I got 300 years of history to finish. Somebody else is going to have to take up the mantle at some point. So, I will appoint a squire to come and assist me and learn.

There’s also selling the work, which is necessary for me to continue to keep making it. I have to sell it. So, sometimes instead of going for a straight narrative thing, I have to make some stylistic choices and I have to really use my brain to condense everything into smaller moments. And it can’t be this wide sprawling thing, which in and of itself is a good thing, because that facilitates me moving to the next chapter a lot easier. So the more exhibitions I do, regardless if they make money or not, the better off I am in moving the story forward.

from Umar Rashid, Battle of Malibu (In Three Parts) 179; Courtesy Plum & Poe

Is the story in the art the most important thing, and the selling of the work secondary for you?

Yes, the art is the most fulfilling because it’s the only thing that matters. Because without that, the other could not exist. And how fickle the art industry is. I sat and languished for the better part of two decades, and then after the George Floyd and Breonna Taylor murders, and with the water rights in the Lakota country there was a wide echo about decolonization. They were like, “Oh, hey, this guy. Looks like he’s been doing this a while.” I was like, “Yeah. No one was interested in decolonization.” I’m not saying I kicked off the whole movement, but when people started to learn about it, they just gravitated towards my work because it spoke to everything that people were talking about. But I’ve been doing it for a very long time, so I’m happy that I got discovered.

For those late comers there was already a rich narrative unfolding. So now, having decimated your ego and pulled it back together, and being a parent and all the things you’ve gone through in life, do you see power in longevity?

Being responsible for someone else’s well being—I mean, even if you don’t have children or a partner, you still have relatives or friends. You have to have somebody to serve. I think it’s necessary to serve. The most important thing to do is to serve something greater than yourself. Not greater in a sense like, “Oh, exalted one,” but just serve something else. And then the longevity, how that works out is that you just have more ways to tell different stories. You learn. You keep your ears and your eyes open. Having my kids and my partner with me has been magic. Regardless of financial or critical success, I wanted to give them something that they could be proud of to say, “My dad did this.” So, I did it. This 20 year journey, I achieved everything that I set out to do.

So, now, I’m just following the narrative until a new path presents itself. I’m just letting life teach me now but not pandering. I’m trying to listen to what’s being said. Because now you have these conversations about gender. You have these meta conversations about race. You have this cacophony of things that people are talking about because of the widespread availability of information, owing to the internet. The spread of ideas is very fast. But I caution people to stay in that space too long because it actually makes things less important. When you have too many things going on in your head, you’re just moving on to the next thing. It’s like, “All right, we conquered this. We solved it with a media campaign and moved on.”

I think in a lot of ways I see that becoming an instrument of widespread fascism at some point, or acceptable fascism. “We had a media campaign, we talked about it. We canceled some people, and now everything’s okay.” But it’s not, because you were talking to people who already agree with you.

There’s always going to be a balance. Duality is the nature of humanity. And that’s what brought me to what I’m focusing on now, which is harmony, taking two different things and equalizing. Back to that whole analogy of the swing. You get to that point but you can’t stay there, but that’s the glue that holds everything together. So, you have to remember, we’re not going to be able to change everybody. And I know, I don’t expect to…Because if I did want to change everybody, that would be acceptable fascism in this current place and time. So, stop trying to change everybody. Live your life, but always practice harmonics.

When you’re deep at work in the studio, what do you feel?

Well, anxiety because usually I’ve started the project so late. I wait until the last minute. I work from a philosophy of, store up potential energy and make it kinetic. But store up a lot of potential energy, like a massive wave. So, every show that I do is almost like a tsunami. It’s got that much force. There’s the research, the thinking of ideas, the crafting, telling the story, the flushing out of the characters. And so, you make this wall and you hold it up. But then a lot of times what happens is that I’ve built up so much that when I break the dam it’s like drowning in the ocean. I’m pretty sure in one of my past lives I probably did. But it’s that vision, drowning in the ocean—very tumultuous, waves crashing, it’s a chaotic landscape. And once you’re below the waves, it just settles. And you’re there and the waves are there. Now, at this point, you could actually die, or you could live, it doesn’t matter. Then once I get into that groove and I know that I can swim back up, again.

All that stuff that builds up, will always build up, so that energy has to be released often. So, I guess when I do a show, I feel very excited to do the show most of the time, because I get a chance to tell another part of this story I’ve been working on for half of my life. So, when I get there I’ve got to surrender to the wave, let it overtake me, and then continue on and let it be done. And that’s a great feeling.

But there’s also a postpartum depression when you create a project and it just overwhelms. It can overcome you. That happens a lot so I try to stay as busy as humanly possible, so I never have to feel that feeling. But ultimately, I feel it sometimes. Then there’s that sadness because as you’re giving away your ideas and things that are precious to you, you’re giving away a preciousness that you will not be able to recreate 100% because of the malleability of existence and all these things. And so, it becomes something else.

Umar Rashid, Storm King; Courtesy Blum & Poe

Were these things that you had to learn on your own, or did you have mentors to help guide you? And how do you share your experience in order to encourage others?

I do like to share, unsolicited, my opinion on a great many things. But I just tell people, I’m not trying to sway you to think any different way. I see where people are making mistakes, and if I can help you correct those mistakes, because that’s what humans do. That’s the reason why we have children. So we can create a better world. We’re leaving better versions of ourselves here. Well, that should be the goal. Unfortunately, it’s not always the case. But that’s how societies evolve. You produce the better version of yourself to leave behind for the rest of the people. And then they have to figure out their stuff.

But there’s artists, like Henry Taylor, who would come to every one of my shows when I started out. And nobody would be there but Henry would come and he was like, “Hey, you should do this different.” My friend Ricardo and my brother-in-law taught me all these things about how to paint. And Augustine Kofie taught me some techniques. And I just learned from the community, especially in a time when you and I were ripping and running before children and partners and everything. When we were running around, Los Angeles was a gold mine. There were so many people, so much influence. And it wasn’t so centered on movies or Hollywood. It was a whole organic scene. I don’t know, maybe it still exists. I haven’t really seen it, because I don’t go out. But I remember I was just astounded by how much was going on and how much was made. So, in that way, Los Angeles, the city itself, the geography, the people, the culture, this hybridized Anglo, Latino, African, Asian thing, raised me too. So, you can be mentored by the physical space in and of itself, and then break it down to individuals. But yeah, what I do try to tell people ultimately, my best advice is just be you and try not to be like everybody else.

What’s your ideal creative space?

The ideal creative space will be a lush temple dedicated to Artemis with multiple waterfalls and cakes of all different kinds, ambrosia, and fountains of champagne and other delicious intoxicating drinks. No, I mean, a harmonious, clean space that’s wide enough so I can flesh things out with decent lighting. Actually, I’m like a cat. I like small spaces. I like crannies, crooks. I don’t like to be totally exposed because there’s a time for that. That’s my more performative nature. But when I’m creating, that’s very internal. I like it to remain hidden, the Al-Ghaib. I like it to be hidden and then reveal. It’s like a magician’s trick. It’s transforming thoughts to image. It’s a form of alchemy. It’s magic, so the place has to suit that.

Now I’m not saying that if anybody were to offer me a giant warehouse studio that looked like a Google office with a personal trainer and a massage… I mean is that a possible future? My A.P.F., all possible futures.

So, harmony is the future?

Yeah. The harmony. When I become just a note, and it was like, Umar has transcended into a note.

But it’s in Dubai and he has his personal roller skating rink.

And it costs $100 million to come and see him. He’s in a crystal box.

This content originally appeared on The Creative Independent and was authored by Mark Frosty McNeill.

Right Wing propaganda outlet OpIndia wrote an article titled, “’35 क्या 36 टुकड़े भी कर देता… बस चाकू बजाते जाओ’: श्रद्धा मर्डर पर बुलंदशहर के राशिद खान को सुनिए, आफताब के किए को ठहरा रहा ‘जायज’”. In the article, they elaborated on the statements made by Khan in the interview. (Archive)

OpIndia also tweeted the clip wherein Khan is heard making the controversial statements. (Archive)

35 कम है… 36 टुकड़े कर देगा बुलंदशहर का राशिद खान

कैमरे के सामने कॉन्फिडेंस में बोला: ‘चाकू लो और बजाए चले जाओ…’#AftabAminPoonawala #ShraddhaWalker #ViralVideo pic.twitter.com/1ZcHnunyaI

— ऑपइंडिया (@OpIndia_in) November 21, 2022

Editor-in-chief of YouTube channel Jan Ki Baat, Pradeep Bhandari, tweeted the video and in the caption, mentioned the name of the man as Rashid Khan. (Archive)

श्रद्धा मर्डर केस पर कुछ शान्तिप्रिय लोग मीम बना रहे हैं

कुछ शान्तिप्रिय आफ़ताब को हीरो बता रहे हैं

और अब बुलन्दशहर के राशिद ख़ान उस खून को उचित बता रहे हैं

एक सवाल.. इस सोच को कैसे डिफेंड करेंगे?#AaftabAminPoonawala pic.twitter.com/yJiK35py6M

— Pradeep Bhandari(प्रदीप भंडारी) (@pradip103) November 21, 2022

Ritesh Kashyap, a journalist with RSS mouthpiece Panchjanya, tweeted the video asking viewers to ‘understand what their mindset is and where they are getting their training from’.

बुलंदशहर के रहने वाले राशिद खान के अनुसार जब किसी आदमी का दिमाग खराब होता है तो 35 की जगह 36 टुकड़े भी कर देता है!
अब आप समझ सकते हैं कि इनकी मानसिकता क्या है और इन्हें यह प्रशिक्षण कहां से मिल रहा होगा! pic.twitter.com/hA4OnFskP0

— Ritesh Kashyap (@meriteshkashyap) November 21, 2022

Activist Jyot Jeet, who has a verified Twitter account, tweeted the same clip with the hashtag #LoveJihad_ActOfTerrorism.

Aftab ने Shraddha के 35 टुकड़े किए उसपर ये Rashid Khan कह रहा है “Mood ख़राब होता है तो आदमी लड़की के 35 क्या 36 टुकड़े भी कर देता है…”

Tukde Tukde करने की Technique बता रहा है कि “छुरी लो और बजाये चले जाओ…”

कह रहा है “लड़ाई मे मै भी काट दूँगा…”#LoveJihad_ActOfTerrorism pic.twitter.com/wRm6OebHYY

— Jyot Jeet (@activistjyot) November 22, 2022

Several other users also tweeted the clip.

Fact-Check

Alt News found another video interview of the same man on a YouTube channel named ‘TNN World’ where he identifies himself as Vikas. In that interview, he can be heard saying that Aftab murdered Shraddha because she must have done something wrong. He further states that since Aftab cut Shraddha’s corpse into 35 pieces, Aftab should be cut into 75 pieces. At 1:52 of the video, when the reporter asks if his name is Vikas, he says, “Aur Kya! daari se Mommedan lag raha hu, par Hindu hnu aur kya. Aadhaar card dekhle bhai”. (Translation: My beard makes me look like a Muslim, but I’m a Hindu. Check my Aadhaar card”.)

We also found that the official Twitter handle of Bulandshahr Police put out a video statement wherein they said that the man’s name was Vikas and not Rashid Khan. Police said that the person seen in the video had been arrested and the viral clip was shot in Delhi. they also said that five cases against Vikas had been filed prior to this incident.

सोशल मीडिया के माध्यम से दिल्ली में बना एक वीडियो संज्ञान में आया था जिसमें एक व्यक्ति द्वारा स्वयं को बुलन्दशहर का निवासी बताते हुए आप्पत्तिजनक टिप्पणी की थी प्रकाश में आये अभियुक्त को थाना सिकन्द्राबाद पुलिस द्वारा गिरफ्तार किया गया है इस सम्बन्ध मे वरिष्ठ पुलिस अधीक्षक की बाइट pic.twitter.com/AyTLBvdTgu

— Bulandshahr Police (@bulandshahrpol) November 25, 2022

Journalist Sachin Gupta also tweeted that ‘Rashid Khan’ who had justified the crime allegedly committed by Aftab turned out to be Vikas Kumar. He has been arrested.

आफताब द्वारा किए गए 35 टुकड़ों को जस्टिफाई करने वाले कथित “राशिद खान” को आखिर UP की बुलंदशहर पुलिस ने ढूंढ निकाला। वो राशिद नहीं, विकास कुमार निकला। आरोपी विकास अरेस्ट है।#Delhi #Bulandshahr #Up pic.twitter.com/zfIuzKn3QL

— Sachin Gupta (@sachingupta787) November 25, 2022

Journalist Aditya Tiwari also tweeted the police findings. Tiwari also tweeted an image of Vikas Kumar’s Aadhaar card where his date of birth has been mentioned as January 1, 2004.

दिल्ली में आफताब द्वारा किए गए 35 टुकड़ों को जस्टिफाई करने वाले कथित “राशिद खान” को आखिर UP की बुलंदशहर पुलिस ने ढूंढ निकाला

वो राशिद नहीं, विकास कुमार निकला, आरोपी विकास अरेस्ट, एसएसपी का बयान

“ऐसे जाहिलो की वजह से समाज में विश्वास टूट रहा और समाज प्रदूषित हो रहा” pic.twitter.com/KAZN86Qzpz

— आदित्य तिवारी / Aditya Tiwari (@aditytiwarilive) November 25, 2022

A video of Vikas Kumar speaking to a journalist after being arrested for his inappropriate comments was also found. On being asked why he identified himself as Rashid Khan, he says “Everyone called me Rashid there. I didn’t know that this incident would reach so many people”.

Vikas Kumar who identified himself as Rashid Khan in a viral video where he is heard sharing his inappropriate comment on the Shraddha Walker murder case has been arrested by UP’s Bulandshahr police. pic.twitter.com/OB70AfS9Hd

— Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) November 25, 2022

After the identity of the man came out in public domain, OpIndia clarified in a tweet that the man in the video had been identified as Vikas Kumar (Archive). They also published a new article with the police updates titled, “खुद को राशिद बता 36 टुकड़े करने की कर रहा था बात, UP पुलिस ने पकड़ा तो आफताब का ‘हमदर्द’ निकला विकास जाटव: कहा था- चाकू बजाते जाओ”.

After the police statement was released, Swati Goel Sharma, a journalist with the Right Wing news outlet Swarajya, made the claim that Vikas Kumar had recently converted to Hinduism and very likely had a Tablighi connection.

Given my experience with covering Dawah activities, I feel he is a recent convert. I am saying this irrespective of what he said, of which I have little idea. A very likely Tablighi connection https://t.co/Sf2W6Lxgpy

— Swati Goel Sharma (@swati_gs) November 25, 2022

Alt News spoke to Bulandshahr Police who confirmed that the accused was named Vikas Kumar and not Rashid Khan. On being asked whether Vikas Kumar had recently converted to Islam, the Police said that they had no such information yet.

Hence, the man making inappropriate statements about the Shraddha Walkar murder case in the viral video shared by several prominent figures is actually Vikas Kumar, and not Rashid Khan, as he himself claimed in a video.

The post After social media outrage, ‘Rashid Khan’ justifying Shraddha murder turns out to be Vikas Kumar appeared first on Alt News.

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

Right Wing propaganda outlet OpIndia wrote an article titled, “’35 क्या 36 टुकड़े भी कर देता… बस चाकू बजाते जाओ’: श्रद्धा मर्डर पर बुलंदशहर के राशिद खान को सुनिए, आफताब के किए को ठहरा रहा ‘जायज’”. In the article, they elaborated on the statements made by Khan in the interview. (Archive)

OpIndia also tweeted the clip wherein Khan is heard making the controversial statements. (Archive)

35 कम है… 36 टुकड़े कर देगा बुलंदशहर का राशिद खान

कैमरे के सामने कॉन्फिडेंस में बोला: ‘चाकू लो और बजाए चले जाओ…’#AftabAminPoonawala #ShraddhaWalker #ViralVideo pic.twitter.com/1ZcHnunyaI

— ऑपइंडिया (@OpIndia_in) November 21, 2022

Editor-in-chief of YouTube channel Jan Ki Baat, Pradeep Bhandari, tweeted the video and in the caption, mentioned the name of the man as Rashid Khan. (Archive)

श्रद्धा मर्डर केस पर कुछ शान्तिप्रिय लोग मीम बना रहे हैं

कुछ शान्तिप्रिय आफ़ताब को हीरो बता रहे हैं

और अब बुलन्दशहर के राशिद ख़ान उस खून को उचित बता रहे हैं

एक सवाल.. इस सोच को कैसे डिफेंड करेंगे?#AaftabAminPoonawala pic.twitter.com/yJiK35py6M

— Pradeep Bhandari(प्रदीप भंडारी) (@pradip103) November 21, 2022

Ritesh Kashyap, a journalist with RSS mouthpiece Panchjanya, tweeted the video asking viewers to ‘understand what their mindset is and where they are getting their training from’.

बुलंदशहर के रहने वाले राशिद खान के अनुसार जब किसी आदमी का दिमाग खराब होता है तो 35 की जगह 36 टुकड़े भी कर देता है!
अब आप समझ सकते हैं कि इनकी मानसिकता क्या है और इन्हें यह प्रशिक्षण कहां से मिल रहा होगा! pic.twitter.com/hA4OnFskP0

— Ritesh Kashyap (@meriteshkashyap) November 21, 2022

Activist Jyot Jeet, who has a verified Twitter account, tweeted the same clip with the hashtag #LoveJihad_ActOfTerrorism.

Aftab ने Shraddha के 35 टुकड़े किए उसपर ये Rashid Khan कह रहा है “Mood ख़राब होता है तो आदमी लड़की के 35 क्या 36 टुकड़े भी कर देता है…”

Tukde Tukde करने की Technique बता रहा है कि “छुरी लो और बजाये चले जाओ…”

कह रहा है “लड़ाई मे मै भी काट दूँगा…”#LoveJihad_ActOfTerrorism pic.twitter.com/wRm6OebHYY

— Jyot Jeet (@activistjyot) November 22, 2022

Several other users also tweeted the clip.

Fact-Check

Alt News found another video interview of the same man on a YouTube channel named ‘TNN World’ where he identifies himself as Vikas. In that interview, he can be heard saying that Aftab murdered Shraddha because she must have done something wrong. He further states that since Aftab cut Shraddha’s corpse into 35 pieces, Aftab should be cut into 75 pieces. At 1:52 of the video, when the reporter asks if his name is Vikas, he says, “Aur Kya! daari se Mommedan lag raha hu, par Hindu hnu aur kya. Aadhaar card dekhle bhai”. (Translation: My beard makes me look like a Muslim, but I’m a Hindu. Check my Aadhaar card”.)

We also found that the official Twitter handle of Bulandshahr Police put out a video statement wherein they said that the man’s name was Vikas and not Rashid Khan. Police said that the person seen in the video had been arrested and the viral clip was shot in Delhi. they also said that five cases against Vikas had been filed prior to this incident.

सोशल मीडिया के माध्यम से दिल्ली में बना एक वीडियो संज्ञान में आया था जिसमें एक व्यक्ति द्वारा स्वयं को बुलन्दशहर का निवासी बताते हुए आप्पत्तिजनक टिप्पणी की थी प्रकाश में आये अभियुक्त को थाना सिकन्द्राबाद पुलिस द्वारा गिरफ्तार किया गया है इस सम्बन्ध मे वरिष्ठ पुलिस अधीक्षक की बाइट pic.twitter.com/AyTLBvdTgu

— Bulandshahr Police (@bulandshahrpol) November 25, 2022

Journalist Sachin Gupta also tweeted that ‘Rashid Khan’ who had justified the crime allegedly committed by Aftab turned out to be Vikas Kumar. He has been arrested.

आफताब द्वारा किए गए 35 टुकड़ों को जस्टिफाई करने वाले कथित “राशिद खान” को आखिर UP की बुलंदशहर पुलिस ने ढूंढ निकाला। वो राशिद नहीं, विकास कुमार निकला। आरोपी विकास अरेस्ट है।#Delhi #Bulandshahr #Up pic.twitter.com/zfIuzKn3QL

— Sachin Gupta (@sachingupta787) November 25, 2022

Journalist Aditya Tiwari also tweeted the police findings. Tiwari also tweeted an image of Vikas Kumar’s Aadhaar card where his date of birth has been mentioned as January 1, 2004.

दिल्ली में आफताब द्वारा किए गए 35 टुकड़ों को जस्टिफाई करने वाले कथित “राशिद खान” को आखिर UP की बुलंदशहर पुलिस ने ढूंढ निकाला

वो राशिद नहीं, विकास कुमार निकला, आरोपी विकास अरेस्ट, एसएसपी का बयान

“ऐसे जाहिलो की वजह से समाज में विश्वास टूट रहा और समाज प्रदूषित हो रहा” pic.twitter.com/KAZN86Qzpz

— आदित्य तिवारी / Aditya Tiwari (@aditytiwarilive) November 25, 2022

A video of Vikas Kumar speaking to a journalist after being arrested for his inappropriate comments was also found. On being asked why he identified himself as Rashid Khan, he says “Everyone called me Rashid there. I didn’t know that this incident would reach so many people”.

Vikas Kumar who identified himself as Rashid Khan in a viral video where he is heard sharing his inappropriate comment on the Shraddha Walker murder case has been arrested by UP’s Bulandshahr police. pic.twitter.com/OB70AfS9Hd

— Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) November 25, 2022

After the identity of the man came out in public domain, OpIndia clarified in a tweet that the man in the video had been identified as Vikas Kumar (Archive). They also published a new article with the police updates titled, “खुद को राशिद बता 36 टुकड़े करने की कर रहा था बात, UP पुलिस ने पकड़ा तो आफताब का ‘हमदर्द’ निकला विकास जाटव: कहा था- चाकू बजाते जाओ”.

After the police statement was released, Swati Goel Sharma, a journalist with the Right Wing news outlet Swarajya, made the claim that Vikas Kumar had recently converted to Hinduism and very likely had a Tablighi connection.

Given my experience with covering Dawah activities, I feel he is a recent convert. I am saying this irrespective of what he said, of which I have little idea. A very likely Tablighi connection https://t.co/Sf2W6Lxgpy

— Swati Goel Sharma (@swati_gs) November 25, 2022

Alt News spoke to Bulandshahr Police who confirmed that the accused was named Vikas Kumar and not Rashid Khan. On being asked whether Vikas Kumar had recently converted to Islam, the Police said that they had no such information yet.

Hence, the man making inappropriate statements about the Shraddha Walkar murder case in the viral video shared by several prominent figures is actually Vikas Kumar, and not Rashid Khan, as he himself claimed in a video.

The post After social media outrage, ‘Rashid Khan’ justifying Shraddha murder turns out to be Vikas Kumar appeared first on Alt News.

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

The journalists are all freelancers, except for Shibli who is the editor of news website The Kashmiriyat. 

Police seized electronic devices including laptops, mobiles phone, memory cards, and pen-drives during the raids, the statement added. The home of Adil Pandit, a lawyer representing imprisoned journalist Aasif Sultan, was also raided, The Telegraph said. 

Police said they raided the homes of the journalists in an investigation into a militant group that threatened other members of the media. One of the journalists whose home was raided told CPJ on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal, that he is not linked to any militant group, and that he believes is being targeted for his critical reporting. 

At least two journalists whose homes were raided have been subject to official scrutiny in the past. In February, authorities issued an arrest warrant for Geelani, who went underground. Authorities raided Shibli’s home in August 2021.  

The recent raids came after police in Srinagar, the capital of Jammu and Kashmir, said in a November 16 Twitter statement that they had initiated an investigation into online threats against journalists allegedly made by militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba and The Resistance Front, which police described as a Lashkar-e-Taiba offshoot. 

According to The Telegraph, the threats were made on a blog, KashmirFight.com, against 21 journalists “allegedly working for the State [of India]”; the blog called the journalists “stooges” and “traitors.” The Telegraph said that most of the journalists named are employed at three Srinagar news outlets — newspapers Greater Kashmir and Rising Kashmir and news website Asian News Network. CPJ emailed the three outlets but did not receive an immediate response. 

CPJ could not locate the threatening post on KashmirFight.com. 

The blog has issued threats in the past. In June 2018, the blog said Rising Kashmir Editor Shujaat Bukhari “betray[ed] the Kashmir struggle”; 11 days later the journalist was killed, according to news reports. In October 2020, the blog issued a similar threat to 39 Kashmiri journalists, accusing them of being “Indian agents,” CPJ documented.

CPJ sent requests for comment to Dilbag Singh, director-general of the Jammu and Kashmir police, via messaging app but did not receive a response. 

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

On the evening of Friday, May 13, a group of teenagers stabbed Chowdhury, executive editor of the privately owned daily newspaper Dainik Agrabani Pratidin, in the central city of Narayanganj, according to news reports. The teenagers also stabbed Uddin when he attempted to intervene, according to those sources.

Separately, on the morning of May 8, the brother of a local shark oil factory owner assaulted Nihad, Mahajan, and Halim, respectively chief reporter, reporter, and camera operator with the privately owned news website Territorial News, while the three were reporting on alleged shark product smuggling in the southeast city of Cox’s Bazar, according to the Dhaka Tribune and Nihad, who spoke to CPJ by phone. Nihad told CPJ that a local businessman had threatened the three journalists while reporting in the area the day before.

“Bangladesh authorities cannot allow these wanton attacks on journalists in Narayanganj and Cox’s Bazar to go unpunished,” said Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator, in Washington, D.C. “Assaulting journalists amounts to a fundamental attack on the Bangladeshi people’s right to information. Authorities must conduct swift and impartial investigations into both incidents, hold the perpetrators accountable, and prioritize the safety of journalists.”

On May 13, Chowdhury was returning home when a group of teenagers blocked his path and stabbed him in the right side of his abdomen and his hand, according to news reports. The teenagers accused Chowdhury of publishing news critical of them in Dainik Agrabani Pratidin, which had reported on a clash between two armed teenage gangs, according to those sources. The teenagers stabbed Uddin when he attempted to help Chowdhury, according to those sources.

The teenagers fled the scene when locals arrived upon hearing screams, according to those sources, which said that Chowdhury and Uddin received treatment at a local hospital following the incident. CPJ was unable to determine the full extent of Chowdhury and Uddin’s injuries. Chowdhury did not respond to CPJ’s call and WhatsApp message requesting comment. CPJ was unable to identify contact details for Uddin.

The Bangladesh national police did not respond to CPJ’s emailed request for comment on the Narayangaj attack, and CPJ could not locate contact details for the Narayangai police.

Syed Sifat Al Rahman, general secretary of the Narayangaj City Press Club, told the Dhaka Tribune that police had inspected the location of the incident, but had not yet registered a case against the attackers. Rahman did not respond to CPJ’s call and WhatsApp message requesting comment.

In a separate incident, on the morning of May 8, Nihad, Mahajan, and Halim were filming outside a shark oil factory in Cox’s Bazar when Mostaq Ahmed, the brother of the factory’s owner, ran in front of Nihad, grabbed his throat and choked him, slapped him against his ear, pushed him into a wall, and broke his phone, according to Nihad and a photo of the incident he provided to CPJ, published above.

Ahmed then charged toward Hakim, grabbed him to restrain him from filming, pushed him against the wall, and broke his camera, Nihad said, adding that Ahmed also pushed Mahajan during the incident. 

Ahmed fled the scene when locals arrived, Nihad said, adding that police arrived at the scene within around 10 minutes. 

Nihad told CPJ that his throat and the back of his head were in serious pain from the incident, and he sought medical attention at a local hospital. Salim sustained scratches, but Mahajan was not physically injured, Nihad said.

Nihad told CPJ that on May 7, the day before the attack, Gura Mia, a local businessman with ties to the factory and an alleged shark product smuggling racket, threatened Nihad, Mahajan, and Halim while they were reporting in the area. Mia told the three journalists that if he caught them in the area again, he would “cut up [their] bodies and throw them in the ocean,” according to Nihad.

On May 9, Sadar Model police station registered a first information report, which opens an investigation, against the factory owner, Ahmed, and Mia in relation to the assault, according to Nihad and a copy of the report, which CPJ reviewed. The report accuses the three of wrongful confinement, unlawful assembly, voluntarily causing hurt, attempt to murder, theft, and criminal intimidation.

Nihad told CPJ that police conducted raids in the Cox’s Bazar area on the night of May 8, but were unable to find the three accused, who have since gone into hiding.

Mia did not respond to CPJ’s text message requesting comment. CPJ was unable to identify contact details for Ahmed. CPJ was not able to locate public statements by Mia or Ahmed regarding their alleged role in the assault. 

Mohammad Abdul Halim, the investigating officer in the case, and Sheikh Monirul Gias, the officer-in-charge of the Sadar Model police station, 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 Committee to Protect Journalists.

Palestinians are holding a state funeral in Ramallah for Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh, a veteran journalist who was one of the best-known television journalists in Palestine and the Arab world. Abu Akleh, who was a U.S. citizen, was wearing a press uniform and covering an Israeli military raid in the occupied West Bank when she was fatally shot in the head on Wednesday. Israel initially claimed she may have been shot by a Palestinian gunman, but later said it was unclear who shot her, after witnesses, including other journalists, said she was shot dead by Israeli forces. “People are shocked all over Palestine, all over the Arab world, actually,” says Rashid Khalidi, professor of modern Arab studies at Columbia University. Israel’s “colonial army” has “systematically targeted” Palestinian journalists, says Khalidi. “It’s really important to Israel that nobody see what’s going on in the Occupied Territories.”

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

On June 10, 2021, the Dhaka Cyber Tribunal referred the case to the cybercrime unit of the Dhaka police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for investigation, Choudhury told CPJ. On August 16, 2021, CID officers interrogated Choudhury for around two hours, during which they repeatedly asked him why he published the articles and demanded he reveal his sources, he said.

Section 40 of the Digital Security Act allows authorities 60 days to complete an investigation, which can be extended with judicial approval. The CID submitted applications to extend the investigation period on June 22, 2021, September 30, 2021, and November 17, 2021, according to Choudhury.

On January 23, 2022, Sub-inspector Mehdi Hassan filed an investigative report at the Dhaka Cyber Tribunal which accused Choudhury of violating three sections of the Digital Security Act pertaining to the publication of offensive, false, or threatening information; defamation; and abetment.

The first two offenses can each carry a prison sentence of up to three years and a fine between 300,000 taka (US$3,500) and 500,000 taka (US$5,815), according to the law, which states that abetment carries the same punishment as committing an offense itself.

On February 17, 2022, the Dhaka Cyber Tribunal issued a summons for Choudhury to appear on April 6, 2022, at which time the journalist’s lawyer will file an application for anticipatory bail, Choudhury said, adding that if anticipatory bail is denied, the tribunal will frame, or determine the nature of, the charges against him.

Sub-inspector Hassan, the investigating officer in the case, did not respond to CPJ’s text message requesting comment. Sanu did not respond to CPJ’s request for comment sent via messaging app.

Choudhury was previously arrested in November 2003 when he tried to travel to Israel to participate in a conference with the Hebrew Writers Association, according to CPJ documentation. He was released on bail in May 2005 before he was convicted of sedition and treason in January 2015 and sentenced to seven years in prison, according to CPJ research and Choudhury. Choudhury was also detained from November 2012 to July 2018, when he served concurrent sentences for fraud, sedition, and treason, he said.

In July 2006, two small devices detonated outside the Weekly Blitz office, as CPJ documented.

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