RSF calls for investigation into fatal shooting of Noakhali journo

Published at 04:36 pm February 23rd, 2021

The injured journalist Borhan Uddin Muzakkir being taken to hospital after sustaining bullet wound in the neck in Noakhali's Companiganj on Saturday, February 20, 2021 Bangla Tribune

Muzakkir sustained a gunshot injury to the neck while covering fighting between the AL rival factions on February 19 in Noakhali and died the next day

Reporters Without Borders (RSF), a France-based organisation that deals with the rights of journalists has called for an independent investigation into the fatal shooting of a reporter in Noakhali.

Borhan Uddin Muzakkir, a reporter for the Bangla Samachar daily newspaper and the Bartabazar.com news website, was covering clashes between rival factions of Bangladesh’s ruling Awami League in Companiganj.

Those responsible must be brought to justice, and the ruling party’s leadership must ensure respect for the media’s work, RSF said in a press statement issued on Monday, forwarded to Dhaka Tribune on Tuesday.

“It is completely unacceptable for Borhan Muzakkir to have been the collateral victim of political tension within the Awami League,” said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk.

“We urge the Companiganj police to make every effort to identify the person or persons responsible for this fatal shooting and bring them to justice. We also call on Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader to ensure that his party’s activists respect the work of journalists during their meetings.”

Ten journalists were physically attacked by Awami League activists while covering municipal elections in the capital, Dhaka, just over a year ago, on 1 February 2020. Two of them, Mostafizur Rahman Suman and Zisad Ikbal, had to be hospitalized with serious injuries.

Bangladesh is ranked 151st out of 180 countries in RSF's 2020 World Press Freedom Index.