Media group seeks probe into Bangladesh journalist's death
AFP
DHAKA- Global media watchdog Reporters Without Borders on Saturday urged Bangladesh's prime minister to order a probe into the death of a veteran journalist who died after being attacked.
Foteh Osmani, a correspondent of Bangladesh's top weekly Shaptahik 2000, died earlier in the week from injuries suffered when unidentified armed assailants attacked him when he was riding on a motorcycle two weeks earlier.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka in 2008
"We urge you to order an exhaustive investigation into Foteh Osmani’s murder in order to establish the identity and motives of those responsible and bring them to justice," the group's secretary-general Jean-François Julliard said.
Osmani's "assailants clearly set an ambush for him even if their motives are not yet known," Julliard said in the letter.
Shaptahik 2000 is the South Asian country's highest-circulation Bengali weekly and is known for its hard-hitting investigative reports on corruption and social problems.
Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said it was also troubled by the government's "sudden decision" to close down privately-owned Channel 1 television station after it violated the country's telecommunications laws.
The telecommunications regulator shut down the channel earlier in the week after it was found guilty of using broadcast equipment as collateral for loans.
The media group's secretary general said while it seemed clear that the channel did "bend the rules," the action by the regulator was "a violation of media freedom."
The media watchdog urged Hasina to allow the Bangladeshi channel to continue broadcasting while it sorted out its situation.
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