2 Jun 2010 | News and features
Police last night closed a popular newspaper, sealing its offices and arresting its editor on fraud charges — opposition fears move marks wider press clampdown. Parvez Kabir and Michael Harris report
The Bangladeshi government ordered the closure of the country’s third largest national daily newspaper Amar Desh at around midnight last night. In an interview conducted with the acting editor, Mahmudur Rahman, in the early hours of the morning before his arrest, he told Index on Censorship that police officers under government orders had stormed the newspaper’s headquarters in Kawaran Bazar, Dhaka. Many in the opposition Bangladeshi National Party (BNP) — which Amar Desh supports — believe the closure is part of a move by the Awami League government to crack down on press freedom to minimise opposition to government policy.
In April, Bangladesh’s only private television station, Channel One, was taken off air by the government due to “licensing issues” and yesterday, popular social networking site Facebook was also blocked in the name of “public order”. Many Bangladeshis fear a return to the censorship and silence enforced by previous governments. In 1975, Awami League leader, the late Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, banned and closed all but four state-owned national newspapers to shore up support for one-party rule. This latest clampdown comes in spite of the government’s official rhetoric of creating a Digital Bangladesh.
Background to the closure
In recent months, Mahmudur Rahman has written editorials and articles criticising the government, he has documented human rights abuses, extra-judicial killings and maladministration by officials linked to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Rahman told Index: “The government has made a fascist stance against freedom of expression.” He stressed, “We are the third largest national daily and have the second largest internet readership…I have in my journalism exposed the government’s record on corruption and human rights abuses extensively, in recent days we have seen a high number of custodial deaths…in other words I have challenged Sheikh Hasina, the current prime minister, on her integrity and challenged the establishment.”
According to unconfirmed reports, Amar Desh’s troubles began when its publisher, Hashmat Ali Hash, was detained by National Security Intelligence agents at an undisclosed location. Ali was freed after six hours, and announced his intention to sue Mahmudur Rahman on charges of fraud, impersonation and defamation. Ali signed papers stating he was no longer responsible for Amar Desh and stating “legal steps can be taken as his name is being printed as the publisher”, hence the fraud charges.
According to reports for Index from Bangladesh, the police were initially unable to arrest Mahmudur Rahman as almost 400 members of the newspapers staff acted as a human barricade. They pleaded to be arrested with him in an act of solidarity to highlight the government’s curbs on freedom of speech.
Rahman has asked those who work for freedom of expression around the world to publicise the situation in Bangladesh. He said: “Support us in the fight to freedom of speech, people should be free to struggle and show their dissent against oppressive measures, that is part of any civil plural democracy”.
We have been unable to contact Bangladesh’s High Commission for comment.
The Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists and Dhaka Union of Journalists have called a protest rally at the National Press Club at 11:00am today (Thursday) in protest against the government’s action
Parvez Kabir is a UK-based activist on Bangladeshi issues; Michael Harris is Index on Censorship’s Public Affairs Manager
UPDATE: Mahmudar Rahman’s lawayers claim he has benn tortured in custody. Read here
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1 Apr 2010 | Index Index, minipost, Uncategorized
On Tuesday, after a High Court hearing, a ban was lifted on an exhibition by photographer Dr. Shahidul Alam. The exhibition, named “Crossfire”, contained a collection of photographs and displays regarding extrajudicial executions by the Bangladeshi Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). The show at the Drik Gallery in Dakha was closed by police on 22 March, 2010.
27 Oct 2009 | Index Index, minipost, News and features
F.M Masum, a journalist for the English-language daily The New Age, was arrested on 22 October and tortured in Dhaka. He was held by the Rapid Action Battalion, an elite crime and counterterrorist force. It is believed that his arrest and torture is in relation to The New Age having published articles linking the Rapid Action Battalion to extrajudicial executions and drug cases. Masum was freed after The New Age intervened on his behalf. (RSF)
Read more
13 Jun 2025 | Americas, Asia and Pacific, Bangladesh, Colombia, Europe and Central Asia, Italy, Mexico, News and features, United States
In the age of online information, it can feel harder than ever to stay informed. As we get bombarded with news from all angles, important stories can easily pass us by. To help you cut through the noise, every Friday Index publishes a weekly news roundup of some of the key stories covering censorship and free expression. This week, we look at how one European government is targeting journalists with spyware, and the crackdown on protest in Los Angeles which has pitted the US president against the governor of California.
State-sponsored espionage: Italian government revealed to be using spyware on activists
On 5 June 2025 an Italian parliamentary committee admitted that the country’s government had been using a product of Israeli spyware company Paragon Solutions to view encrypted messages between Italian activists involved in migrant rights. The spyware service, called Graphite, allowed the operators to view private WhatsApp conversations between activists. That the Italians had been using Graphite spyware had been made public knowledge in February 2025, and Paragon reportedly cut ties with the Italian government as a result, claiming that they had breached the terms of the contract by targeting members of civil society.
Though the parliamentary committee admitted that the government had been using the software, they denied that Italian journalist Francesco Cancellato, editor of news website fanpage.it had been targeted. An investigation by Citizen Lab has since revealed that both Cancellato and the head of Fanpage Ciro Pellegrino had indeed been hacked by Graphite spyware, although those responsible have not been identified. Fanpage, based in Naples, has been repeatedly critical of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, but the government denies any involvement in the hacking of these two journalists. The parliamentary committee stated that all surveillance was done in accordance with national law – but the case has sparked outrage over the use of spyware across Europe, and an EU parliamentary debate on the matter has been scheduled for 16 June.
The battle of Los Angeles: National guard summoned to crack down on mass protests against ICE
Over the last week, the state of California has been gripped by unrest. Protests that started in response to workplace raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have grown into a daily occurrence, with riot police called in to enforce a night-time curfew imposed by city mayor Karen Bass – who has demanded that ICE leave the city. President Donald Trump has responded to these protests against ICE with a fierce crackdown, claiming that he must “liberate” Los Angeles from protesters and calling both the National Guard and the Marines to the city. This in turn sparked a feud with California Governor Gavin Newsom, who accused Trump of a “brazen abuse of power” and claimed that “democracy is under assault before our eyes.”
The protests have been largely peaceful, but were met with a stern crackdown that turned violent. Videos have circulated of protesters being trampled by officers on horseback and beaten with wooden batons; numerous journalists have reported being shot with rubber bullets, and tear gas has been used against non-violent demonstrators. The repercussions of the protests have stretched beyond the streets of Los Angeles. California senator Alex Padilla was pinned to the floor and handcuffed during a press conference by Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem when he stood to ask a question, an incident which Governor Newsom described as “outrageous, dictatorial, and shameful”. Despite a federal judge ruling that Trump’s deployment of the National Guard was illegal, an appeals court declared that Trump will maintain temporary control of the guard – signalling that this long week of unrest is far from over.
A lapse in defence: Colombian presidential candidate shot in the head had security reduced on day of attack
On 7 June 2025, Colombian presidential candidate Miguel Uribe was shot twice in the head at a campaign rally in Bogotá. Uribe survived the attack and has undergone major surgery, but his condition is still extremely serious – and it has been revealed that his security detail on the day of his attack was reduced.
Colombian president Gustavo Petro announced on 9 June that Uribe’s protection team was found to have been reduced from seven to three people ahead of his rally in Bogotá, and called for an investigation into the incident. Uribe’s lawyer Victor Mosquera stated that he has filed a criminal complaint against his security detail, alleging that he had made over 20 requests for increased security in 2025. Two individuals have been arrested, including the alleged shooter – a 15-year-old boy who reportedly stated he acted “for money, for my family”.
The attack brings back unwanted memories of a nation fraught with violence. Uribe’s mother, Diane Turbay, was kidnapped and murdered by the cartel of Pablo Escobar in 1991. Human Rights Watch report that homicides and kidnappings in the country have gone up 20.9% and 34.8% respectively since 2016.Frontline Defenders have identified Colombia as the most lethal country in the world for human rights defenders.
A tragic loss: Dhaka University student takes his own life following harrassment over social media post
24-year-old Shakil Ahmed, a fine arts student at Dhaka university in Bangladesh, took his own life in the early hours of Tuesday, 10 June, after he had received threats over a post on Facebook.
Reports from Singair police station state that an old post by Ahmed, in which he allegedly wrote derogatory comments about Prophet Muhammad, resurfaced and went viral on Facebook. Ahmed’s cousin, Mukta Akter, stated that during the night of 9 June, several hundred people from the surrounding areas converged upon Ahmed’s family home, threatening him and his family over the post despite him already deleting it. Ahmed then made a series of Facebook posts claiming that he did not insult Prophet Muhammad, but that he had “lost the respect of his people” and wrote in one last post that “I cannot live in this world knowing I have destroyed my parents’ dignity”.
Detention and oppression: Indigenous activists in Mexico violently repressed
The Hñöhñö (Otomi) people are an Indigenous group live in Mexico’s central plateau, largely in the state of Queretaro. On 4 June 2025, two young Hñöhñö people were reportedly arbitrarily detained by police while on their way to work in the settlement of Santiago Mexquititlán. A community group organised a peaceful protest against their detention, but they were reportedly met with violence from the Querétaro State Police (POES).
POES agents reportedly violently detained five of the protesters and held them incommunicado for several hours, while the remaining demonstrators were surrounded by police forces. Hñöhñö human rights defender Estela Hernández Jiménez was one of those detained while attempting to document the arrests of the two Hñöhñö youths. She was reportedly beaten and abused by several police officers, before they took her into custody. Jiménez, who was released later that evening, claims she was physically and sexually assaulted by officers. Local human rights groups have condemned the incident claiming that it is part of a wider systematic effort of violence against Indigenous communities in Mexico by the state, dubbing it a “war of extermination”.
