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Afghanistan/South Asia |
Bangladeshi Osamanauts threaten journalists |
2005-09-09 |
![]() Bangla Bhai and Ahle Hadith are accused by authorities of masterminding a wave of more than 400 simultaneous bombings across the country on August 17. The explosions were small and caused few injuries but the scale of the planning and coordination behind the blasts dealt a major psychological blow to the country, journalists told CPJ. The bombers targeted government offices, airports, universities and at least seven press clubs. The journalists who received the death threats in Sathkira are Abu Ahmed of The Daily Star, Kalyan Banerjee of Prothom Alo, Ramkrishna Chakraborty of Samakal, Mizanur Rahman of Janakantha, Subas Chowdhury of Jugantor, Yarab Hossain of Runner, Kali Das Karmakar of Janata, Abul Kalam Azad of Patradut, and Raghunath Kha of Janmabhumi. Leaflets distributed to coincide with the August 17 explosions called the bombs a warning from the banned Islamic militant group Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) to Western leaders to leave Islamic countries. The leaflets also called for the establishment of Islamic sharia law. Despite long standing denials from government officials, Islamic militant activity in Bangladesh is on the rise, and journalists reporting on the trend are increasingly at risk. The government has previously accused journalists of inventing stories about militant groups, but newspapers investigations over the last two years have uncovered connections between outlawed groups and al-Qaeda, according to The Daily Star. |
Posted by:Dan Darling |
#1 CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper. A non-standard Bangla moniker to be sure. |
Posted by: Baba Tutu 2005-09-09 12:11 |