Bangladeshi May Be 1st Journo Murdered in '04

By: Beth Duff-Brown, Associated Press Writer (AP) Manik Saha is believed to have been the world's first reporter to be murdered this year. He was just the latest victim of bloodshed that has Bangladeshi journalists on the front lines of violence plaguing their country.

A reporter for the New Age newspaper and the Bengali language service of British Broadcasting Corp., the 49-year-old Saha was decapitated by a bomb Jan. 15.

Maoist rebels claimed responsibility, and also threatened to "eliminate" nine other reporters who write about the mafia, smuggling and Maoists in Khulna, a city 85 miles southwest of the capital, Dhaka.

Early this month, another outlawed communist group threatened 11 more journalists, charging them with "misreporting" its activities. "The party has decided to kill 11 of you, and you will be killed within a month," the Purbo Banglar Communist Party said in a letter.

A dozen journalists have been slain in this South Asian nation over the past decade, and not one case has been solved. Three journalists were murdered in 2002, and more than 120 were attacked, abducted or threatened last year.

"Bangladesh is the most dangerous country in the world for local correspondents and journalists who are trying to report freely about corruption, smuggling, political and religious violence," said Vincent Brossel of Reporters Without Borders, an international media monitoring group based in Paris.

It's not just reporting on events that is dangerous in Bangladesh, a nation of 130 million people that is one of the globe's most densely populated and one of its poorest.

Police won't give crime statistics, but two major newspapers that track the crime rate said 3,450 Bangladeshis were murdered last year, a 38% increase from 2,500 in 2002. Extortion, rape and kidnapping have also shot up.

In a country with 36% unemployment and an average annual income of just $370, political corruption and everyday crime are a way of life.

The public needs to be kept informed about such ills, Saha's 15-year-old daughter says, in explaining why her father's murder won't deflect her from her dream of becoming a reporter, too.

"I have to complete his work," said Moumita Saha Natasha, 15, who studies in Calcutta, India, because of death threats against her family, including even her 8-year-old sister. "My father would have wanted it. It's the best way to serve people."

She praised her father for doggedly reporting on Bangladesh's southwest, a region on the border with India that is rife with smuggling gangs and Maoists demanding communism in this Muslim-majority nation.

"He was a man who followed a very strict principle: He always told the truth," Moumita said.

Nayeemul Islam Khan, president of the Bangladesh Center for Development, Journalism and Communication, said Saha was well regarded because he didn't take sides or flaunt a big ego like many of his colleagues.

"He was balanced and fair," said Khan. "He didn't have an attitude. He did it for the love of journalism."

That is not always the case, Khan acknowledged.

Many journalists belong to unions that are sponsored by either Bangladesh's governing party or by various opposition groups, which Khan said often results in reporters slanting coverage along political lines.

"This division has become the greatest hindrance to the safety of journalists," he said. "It has not only cost the lives of journalists, but also the quality of journalism."

Brossel, of the Paris-based journalist group, also said politics plays a big role in violence against the country's newspeople. He said members of the Bangladesh National Party of Prime Minister Khalida Zia were implicated in half the attacks and threats against journalists in 2003. The opposition is accused of similar harassment.

Tipu Sultan, a reporter for the Prothom Alo newspaper, was beaten with iron rods and slashed with a butcher knife in 2001.

Sultan believes he was attacked because he wrote an article implicating former Parliament member Jaynal Hazari in an arson attack on a school in his hometown of Feni. Hazari denied the allegation.

Hazari, a member of the opposition Awami League, and 12 of his aides were charged with attempted murder. A trial began last August, although Hazari and six of his aides fled the country.

Tipu said he got a call from Hazari just as the trial began: "He said, 'You're taking it too far. In the next elections, I'm going to come back. Who is going to protect you then?'"