Journalists, editors and owners of media outlets in the nation demanded that authorities protect them following recent attacks on two leading national dailies by mobs.
They said the media industry in the country is being systematically targeted in the interim government headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus.
They said the administration failed to prevent attacks on the Daily Star, the country’s leading English-language daily, and the Prothom Alo, the largest Bengali-language newspaper, both based in Dhaka, the capital.
In December, angry mobs stormed the offices of the two newspapers and set fire to the buildings, trapping journalists and other staff inside, shortly after the death of a prominent Islamist activist.
The newspaper authorities blamed the authorities under the interim government for failing to adequately respond to the incidents despite repeated requests for help to disperse the mobs.
Hours later, the trapped journalists who took shelter on the roof of the Daily Star newspaper were rescued. The buildings were looted.
A leader of the Editors Council, an independent body of newspaper editors, was manhandled by the attackers when he arrived at the scene. On the same day, liberal cultural centres were also attacked in Dhaka.
It was not clear why the protesters attacked the newspapers, whose editors are known to be closely connected with Yunus.
On Saturday, the Editors Council and the Newspapers Owners Association of Bangladesh jointly organised a conference where editors, journalist union leaders and journalists from across the country demanded that the authorities uphold the free press amid rising tensions ahead of elections in February.
Nurul Kabir, president of the Editors Council, said attempts to silence media and democratic institutions reflect a dangerous pattern.
Kabir, also the editor of the English-language New Age daily, said unity among journalists should be upheld to fight such a trend.
“Those who want to suppress institutions that act as vehicles of democratic aspirations are doing so through laws, force and intimidation,” he said.
After the attacks on the two dailies in December, an expert of the United Nations said that mob attacks on leading media outlets and cultural centres in Bangladesh were deeply alarming and must be investigated promptly and effectively.
“The weaponisation of public anger against journalists and artists is dangerous at any time, and especially now as the country prepares for elections. It could have a chilling effect on media freedom, minority voices and dissenting views with serious consequences for democracy,” Irene Khan said in a statement.
Yunus came to power after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country amid a mass uprising in August 2024.
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have blamed the government for its failure to uphold human and other civil rights. — AP
