PEC demands punishment to Bangladesh scribe killers

April 16: Press Emblem Campaign (PEC), the global body for media safety and rights, condemns the murder of Bangladeshi journalist Mohiuddin Sarker Nayeem (28) and demands exemplary punishments to the perpetrators. In an earlier statement, the PEC expressed its serious concern over the sharp rise in journalists killed across the world this year.

Mentionable is that Cumilla-based journalist Mohiuddin was shot dead by suspected drug smugglers on 14 April 2022. His family members claimed that Mohiuddin used to report about the drug trafficking in his locality. The Bangladesh police forces received a lot of inputs from Mohiuddin about the movement of drug peddlers. Son of a retired policeman, Mohiuddin was associated with the local Bengali newspaper ‘Dainik Cumillar Dak’ and for some time he also worked for Ananda television news channel. He was targeted by gunmen at Pachora area near to Hyderabadnagar on Wednesday midnight and later succumbed to injuries in the hospital.

“So far in 2022, globally we have lost 45 journalists to assailants. This is a dramatic rise and very worrying as the number of journalists killed last year was only 79. The war in Ukraine, the conflict triggered by Russia, has claimed 15 victims among media workers and over 20 journalists sustained injuries. On the other hand, Mexico
witnesses the murder of 9 journalists till date,” said PEC president Blaise Lempen.

PEC’s south Asia representative Nava Thakuria lamented that a young Bengali scribe had to lose his life on the eve of Bangladesh New Year. Local journalists have demonstrated their anger against the murder in front of Cumilla Press Club on Friday demanding exemplary punishment to the killers. Lately, four individuals have been arrested by the police suspecting their involvement with Mohiuddin’s cold-blooded murder.

Bangladesh’s eastern neighbour Myanmar has also lost one journalist (Pu Tui Dim) to military atrocities, where as its western neighbour India (Rohit Kumar Biswal, Sudhir Saini and Juned Khan Pathan) and also Pakistan (Hasnain Shah, Murtaza Shar and Athar Mateen) witnessed the murder of three scribes each since 1 January 2022. However, other south Asian nations like Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet (China), Sri Lanka and Maldives have evaded any murder of media workers till date this year.