300 journalists protest attack on reporters' rally

BANGLADESH: More than 300 journalists in Bangladesh's capital protested Sunday a recent attack on a journalists' rally that injured 25 people, organizers said.

The attack on May 28 occurred in the western town of Kushtia when a group of journalists demonstrated extortion charges filed against three local reporters by a lawmaker from Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

An unidentified number of attackers hurled stones, bricks and chairs at the journalists, injuring at least 25 people outside a public library in the town, 129 kilometers (80 miles) west of the capital, Dhaka. Local member of parliament Shahidul Islam filed cases against the three correspondents from Dhaka-based national dailies on May 9 for allegedly demanding money from him for favorable stories.

The journalists denied the charges, saying the lawmaker threatened them with reprisals whenever reports they wrote showed him in an unfavorable light.

The cases were under investigation and the three reporters accused were free on bail. More than 300 journalists paraded down streets in the capital on Sunday and held a rally at the national press club to demand punishment for the attackers, said Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, a spokesman for the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists.

Chowdhury said journalists were constantly under threat and the government had failed to ensure their security, even at a peaceful protest.

"Attacks on journalists mean freedom of expression is threatened," Chowdhury said. "But the government is not doing enough to protect journalists."

New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists and Paris-based Reporters Without Borders both condemned the attack, saying the government must bring the culprits to justice.

Dhaka, Monday, AP