Sanjoy Kumar Barua
A Bangladeshi journalist has been hacked to death after filming a violent street attack in Gazipur — the latest in a series of assaults on reporters under the interim government of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus.
Asaduzzaman Tuhin, 38, a reporter for the Dainik Protidiner Kagoj, had been recording a group of men attacking a youth on Thursday night when they noticed him, police and witnesses said.
The attackers chased him into a roadside tea stall and repeatedly struck him with knives and machetes before fleeing.
“He was targeted because they saw him filming,” one witness said, requesting anonymity for fear of reprisals.
Tuhin’s grief-stricken father, Md. Hasan Jamal, lamented through tears, “My son was my lifeline—sending money for my medicines and constantly concerned for my health. To witness his brutal public murder is a torment beyond endurance. I beg, bring my son back; I cannot bear this agony.”
His mother, Sahabia Khatun Bakul, sorrowfully recalled, “He called just few days ago and let me speak to my grandchildren. Since then, silence. What crime did my son commit to deserve such cruelty?”
Police said the assailants had earlier attacked a man named Badsha Mia over a personal dispute. “Out of anger over why he was recording the video, they hacked him to death,” Gazipur Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Robiul Hasan told local media.
The killing came two days after another journalist, Anwar Hossain Sourav, 35, was beaten in broad daylight while investigating alleged extortion from rickshaw drivers in the same district.
Witnesses said the assault took place in front of police officers, who did not intervene. Mr Sourav is in critical condition in hospital.
Rights groups say there has been a surge in violence and intimidation against the press since Mr Yunus took power in August 2024 after the removal of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Last month, a coalition of 51 journalists from across Bangladesh has issued a statement calling for immediate bail for incarcerated media workers, an end to relentless harassment, and a firm condemnation of the mounting threats against press freedom.
The statement portrays Bangladesh’s media landscape as effectively held hostage by a meticulously orchestrated campaign of repression, marked by escalating violence, systematic intimidation, and coordinated mob attacks.
Over the past 11 months, the signatories detail a harrowing pattern of abuses, including targeted killings, death threats, politically motivated arrests, fabricated charges, mass terminations, asset freezes, travel restrictions, revocation of press accreditations, suspension of press club memberships, and violent assaults on media offices.
This hostile environment has plunged journalists into a climate of pervasive fear and profound insecurity.
According to the statement, at least 10 journalists have been murdered during this period.
Additionally, 412 journalists have been detained under spurious or politically motivated allegations, with 39 formally arrested.
The crackdown extends to the revocation of 168 press accreditations, suspension or cancellation of 101 press club memberships, and freezing of bank accounts of more than 100 journalists.
Over 1,000 journalists have lost their livelihoods, and the Dhaka Union of Journalists’ office has remained forcibly closed for nearly a year.
The statement underscores grave concerns that the impunity enjoyed by perpetrators hints at tacit or explicit complicity from influential actors within the power structure.
The protracted detention of journalists, many denied bail contrary to constitutional guarantees, epitomizes a climate of unchecked authoritarianism.
This systemic persecution casts Bangladesh’s media as a victim of arbitrary state power on the global stage.
The journalists’ collective demands include the immediate prosecution of those responsible for violence against their colleagues, unconditional release of all imprisoned journalists, and an end to politically motivated profiling and harassment of media professionals.
Bangladesh has a long history of impunity in journalist murders. The 2012 killing of journalist couple Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Runi remains unsolved.
The country is ranked 127th in the 2025 Global Expression Report and is listed as being “in crisis” for press freedom.
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