Call for Action Against Torturers of Journalist
Media Release: Bangladesh
October 28, 2009
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is shocked that personnel of an elite Bangladeshi armed guard raided the home of journalist F.M. Masum in Dhaka on October 22, brutally assaulted him and then took him to their headquarters and continued the torture for close to 10 hours.
“The IFJ condemns
this inhuman act by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). We
begin to suspect the battalion has been consistently abusing
the special powers it has for fighting organised crime and
terrorism to crush all dissent and critical opinion,” IFJ
Asia-Pacific Director Jacqueline Park said.
According
to media reports and information from IFJ partners, Masum
was picked up from his apartment when RAB personnel raided a
neighbour’s home in connection with an investigation into
an alleged drug trading ring.
Masum was physically
assaulted as he opened his door. When he identified himself,
the violence only escalated.
After inflicting
considerable physical injury on Masum, the RAB personnel
reportedly took him to their headquarters where he was
subjected to systematic torture.
Masum, a
correspondent with the English-language daily New Age, was
reportedly told that he was being dealt with in retaliation
for the editorial postures taken by his editor, Nurul Kabir,
a widely respected journalist and intellectual.
New
Age has been known to take a critical stance on current
political themes, including during two years of
“emergency” rule which ended late last year.
RAB
units have earlier been implicated in the torture and
ill-treatment of a young and courageous journalist, Jahangir
Alam Akash, in October 2007.
“We welcome the public
expressions of regret for the latest atrocity from the top
echelons of the RAB command structure and the Bangladesh
Government, but expect that proper recompense will be
rendered Masum and appropriate punishment imposed on those
guilty for his torture,” Park
said.
ENDS