“There are already a dozen cases piling up against me,” she said. “I’m a journalist. One murder case is enough to frame me.”

Rupa, a former chief correspondent at privately owned broadcaster Ekattor TV, now faces nine murder cases. Her husband, Shakil Ahmed, the channel’s former head of news, is named in eight.  

A year ago, Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus took charge of Bangladesh’s interim government after Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country following weeks of student-led protests, during which two journalists were killed.

Yunus promised media reform and repealed the Cyber Security Act, a law used to target journalists under Hasina. But in a November 2024 interview with newspaper The Daily Star, Yunus said that murder accusations against journalists were being made hastily. He said the government had since halted such actions and that a committee had been formed to review the cases.

Still, nearly a year later, Rupa, Ahmed, Shyamal Dutta and Mozammel Haque Babu, arrested on accusations of instigating murders in separate cases, remain behind bars. The repeated use of such charges against journalists who are widely seen as sympathetic to the former regime appear to be politically motivated censorship.

In addition to such legal charges, CPJ has documented physical attacks against journalists, threats from political activists, and exile. At least 25 journalists are under investigation for genocide by Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal – a charge that has been used to target figures linked to the former Hasina government. 

“Keeping four journalists behind bars without credible evidence a year on undermines the interim government’s stated commitment to protect press freedom,” said CPJ Regional Director Beh Lih Yi. “Real reform means breaking from the past, not replicating its abuses. All political parties must respect journalists’ right to report as the country is set for polls in coming months.”

A CPJ review of legal documents and reports found that journalists are often added to First Information Reports (FIRs) – documents that open an investigation – long after they are filed. In May, UN experts raised concern that over 140 journalists had been charged with murder following last year’s protests.

Shyamal Dutta’s daughter, Shashi, told CPJ the family has lost track of how many cases he now faces. They are aware of at least six murder cases in which he is named, while Babu’s family is aware of 10. Rupa and Ahmed’s family told CPJ that they haven’t received FIRs for five cases in which one or the other journalist has been named, which means that neither can apply for bail.

Shafiqul Alam, Yunus’s press secretary, and police spokesperson Enamul Haque Sagor did not respond to CPJ’s emailed request for comment. 

Violence and threats

In 2025, reporters across Bangladesh have faced violence and harassment while covering political events, with CPJ documenting at least 10 such incidents, most of which were carried out by members or affiliates of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its student wing, Chhatra Dal. In several instances, journalists sustained serious injuries or were prevented from reporting after footage was deleted or phones seized, including Bahar Raihan, Abdullah Al Mahmud, and Rocky Hossain.

Responding to the allegations, Mahdi Amin, adviser to Acting BNP Chair Tarique Rahman, told CPJ that while isolated misconduct may occur in a party of BNP’s size, the party does not protect wrongdoers. 

Others have faced threats from supporters of different political parties and the student groups that led the protests against Hasina. Reporters covering opposition groups like Jamaat-e-Islami or its student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir, have come under particular pressure. On June 9, Hasanat Kamal, editor of EyeNews.news, told CPJ he’d fled to the United Kingdom after being falsely accused by Islami Chhatra Shibir of participating in a violent student protest. Anwar Hossain, a journalist for the local daily Dabanol, told CPJ he’d been threatened by Jamaat supporters after publishing negative reports about a local party leader. 

CPJ reached out via messaging app to Abdus Sattar Sumon, a spokesperson for Jamaat-e-Islami, but received no response.

Since Hasina’s ouster, student protesters from the Anti-Discrimination Students Movement (ADSM) have increasinglytargeted journalists they accuse of supporting the former regime, which in one case led to the firing of five journalists. Student-led mobs have also besieged outlets like Prothom Alo and The Daily Star. 

CPJ reached out via messaging app to ADSM leader Rifat Rashid but received no response.

On July 14, exiled investigative journalist Zulkarnain Saer Khan, who fled Bangladesh after exposing alleged high-level corruption under Hasina and receiving threats from Awami League officials, posted on X about the repression of the media: “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Kunal Majumder/CPJ India Representative.

“CPJ is alarmed by the apparently baseless criminal cases lodged against Bangladeshi journalists in retaliation for their work, which is seen as supportive of the recently ousted government,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Beh Lih Yi. “Bangladesh’s interim government should ensure that authorities respect the procedural rights of those accused, as well as their right to a fair trial, while safeguarding the ability of all journalists to report without fear of reprisal.”

Hasina fled to India on August 5 following mass protests that ended her 15-year rule. Dozens of Bangladeshi journalists whose reporting was considered favorable of Hasina’s government have since been targeted in criminal investigations.

On August 31, a court in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka jailed Farzana Rupa, former principal correspondent at the privately owned, pro-Awami League broadcaster Ekattor TV, and Shakil Ahmed, Rupa’s husband and former head of news at the broadcaster, on judicial remand following nine days in police custody, according to a person familiar with the case, who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisal.

Police detained Rupa and Ahmed — who were dismissed from their positions at Ekattor TV on August 8 — at Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on August 21. Officers also confiscated the couple’s mobile phones and passports, according to the anonymous source, adding that the journalists were both being held in relation to two cases of instigating murder during the mass protests.

Rupa began receiving an influx of threats in July after questioning Hasina about the protests that ultimately led to her ousting, the anonymous source said.

On September 16, police detained two other Ekattor TV journalists — Mozammel Babu, managing director and editor-in-chief, and Mahbubur Rahman, a senior reporter — along with Shyamal Dutta, editor of the privately owned newspaper Bhorer Kagoj, and their driver, after the group allegedly attempted to illegally enter India from Bangladesh’s northern Mymensingh district.

The following day, a Dhaka court ordered that Babu and Dutta be held in a seven-day police remand in two separate murder cases, while Rahman and the driver were released, according to the anonymous source.

Rupa, Ahmed, Babu, and Dutta were also among the more than two dozen journalists named in an August complaint filed at Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal, a domestic war crimes tribunal, on allegations of involvement in crimes against humanity and genocide during the mass protests.

Twenty-eight other journalists also are facing investigations in connection with the mass protests. On September 4, a court in the southeastern city of Chittagong ordered the Police Bureau of Investigation to probe a criminal complaint filed by a teacher against the journalists and 81 other people.  

The complaint, reviewed by CPJ, cites several sections of the penal code, including promoting enmity between classes, causing grievous hurt, and kidnapping, as well as sections of the Explosive Substances Act of 1908, which can carry a sentence of the death penalty or life imprisonment. It also accuses several privately owned news outlets — including Ekattor TV, Somoy TV, and the Dhaka Tribune newspaper — of failing to publish or broadcast appropriate coverage of the protests.

Enamul Haque Sagor, a Bangladesh police spokesperson, did not respond to CPJ’s calls and WhatsApp messages requesting comment on the latest arrests and investigations.

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

“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.