The environment for investigative journalism and free media in Bangladesh is shrinking day by day. Especially since the political change of 2024 and the interim government, the trend of torture, false cases and arrests against journalists has increased alarmingly. Media workers are constantly facing death threats and legal harassment while exposing corruption and irregularities at the highest levels of the state and political sectors. In the face of this adverse situation, senior reporter of ‘Dainik Vorer Pata’ Md. Arifur Rahaman has been forced to leave the country due to insecurity.
He had been doing objective journalism on internal irregularities in the state and political sectors for a long time. However, since the publication of a series of reports on corruption in the post-2024 interim and influential circles of the BNP government, the pressure and intimidation on him became extreme. At one stage, he and his family were at extreme risk of security due to digital harassment and direct death threats and were forced to leave the country to save their lives.
Expressing concern about insecurity, journalist Md. Arifur Rahaman said, “I and my wife and children are constantly being threatened with death for speaking out against corruption. Even though I was forced to emigrate, my family inside the country is still living in extreme fear.”
Other media workers in the country have expressed deep concern and anger over this emerging situation. Senior journalists and leaders of media organizations say that a suffocating environment has been created for investigative journalists in the country. Many renowned journalists of the country like Anis Alamgir and Manjurul Alam Panna have also faced torture and imprisonment during this time, which is a frightening message for the entire media community.
According to media analysts: “While digital tools are being misused to suppress independent voices, muscle power is being used on the other hand. When a journalist has to emigrate for the crime of reporting the truth, the accountability of the state and the freedom of the media are completely destroyed.”
To ensure the free flow of information in a democratic state and protect freedom of speech, media workers in the country have strongly demanded the immediate provision of security for the lives of all journalists in the country, including md. Arifur Rahaman, and the restoration of a free and safe working environment.
