Editor's Note: The last paragraph of this article has been corrected to clarify the number of people detained and released on bail in connection with the attack.
In mid-morning on December 25, Abu Azad, a journalist for the daily Business Standard newspaper, was documenting activity at what he believed to be an illegal brick kiln operating in Bangladesh.
He had traveled to Rangunia, an administrative region outside the city of Chattogram, to photograph workers removing soil.
Azad told VOA his investigation was interrupted when a member of the local council, Mohiuddin Talukder Mohan, asked to see his press credentials. Azad complied.
"Mohan didn't listen to me and started beating me. His gang members also joined him."
The reporter said he was forced at gunpoint onto a minibus and was driven to a market about half a kilometer away. There, he was beaten again as locals gathered. He was held in Mohan's office where "another round of beatings took place."
At one point, Azad said, Mohan called Siraj Uddin Chowdhury, the chair of the local council, and told him he had "imprisoned a journalist who has gathered information about the brickyard."
Azad said Chowdhury ordered Mohan to seize his phone.
"Mohan snatched my mobile, wallet, national identity card, three bank cards and 10,000 rupees [$96] in cash. Mohan also demanded 50,000 rupees from my family," he said.
Azad registered a case with police against 10 people, including Chowdhury and Mohan, on assault and abduction charges.
VOA emailed the local council for comment but did not receive a response before publication.
Environment of risk
Journalists in Bangladesh say reporting on illicit activities is always a risk.
Saleem Samad, an award-winning journalist based in the capital, Dhaka, told VOA that the media are vulnerable to members of the criminal underworld, some of whom are believed to have connections to people in politics or the police.
He said a lack of accountability only adds to the problem.
"Most journalists in the small towns and cities are targeted for reporting on the drug trade, industrial wastes dumped into canals and rivers, and illegal sand mining with homemade dredgers from rivers, which have caused massive riverbank erosion," he said.
In a six-month study on Bangladesh, the Vienna-based International Press Institute (IPI) found at least 30 violations against the media between April and September 2022, including the killings of two journalists.
According to IPI, journalists in Bangladesh work in a hostile environment where they are attacked, threatened or arrested.
Those risks were underscored last week, when Ashiqul Islam, a journalist in the city of Brahmanbaria, died of injuries sustained in a knife attack. Police have yet to say what they believe motivated the attack.
VOA emailed the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the deputy inspector general in Chattogram, and police for comment but did not receive a response from any of the officials before publication.
Khairuzzaman Kamal, secretary general of the media rights organization Bangladesh Manobadhikar Sangbadik Forum, blames a failure of law enforcement for the attacks.
"In Bangladesh, no cases have been adequately or legally investigated. Political parties, influential communities, or civil/law enforcement agencies interfere with the investigation of these instances, resulting in a lack of proof," he said via email.
In Azad's case, the journalist was investigating brick kilns suspected of operating without the permission of the Environment Department. Azad estimates that as many as 293 out of 411 kilns are running in Chattogram without clearance. Data from the department shows that 66 of the 69 kilns in the region do not have legal documents.
"Rangunia had lucrative natural beauty, which was a sanctuary for wild elephants. But now, people have occupied those lands and established brick kilns illegally," Azad said.
As a result, the surrounding areas and crops are being destroyed, and people are suffering from ailments, Azad said.
"Every year, the number of brick kilns is increasing as the local administration failed to take effective measures against the owners of unauthorized brick kilns," he said. "I was kidnapped because I wanted to tell people these truths."
The Ministry of Environment did not respond to VOA's email requesting comment.
Shortly after the attack on Azad, authorities demolished one of the area's illegal kilns.
Media safety
Bangladesh is one of the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world, and activities that cause damage are coming under increasing media scrutiny, said Beh Lih Yi, Asia program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists.
The safety of journalists reporting on public interest issues must be prioritized, she told VOA.
"Bangladesh has a dreadful record of impunity involving attacks on journalists, which is perpetuated by inadequate police investigations and a lack of political will to hold perpetrators accountable," Lih said. That "creates an atmosphere of self-censorship and fear that discourages reporting on environmental issues."
Syeda Aireen Jaman, secretary general of PEN International Bangladesh Centre, also believes the state of press freedom in Bangladesh is discouraging.
"From the [local council] to all persons working in government sectors, [they] only look after their own interests, whether it's right or wrong. And government supports them blindly," she said. "That is why the [union council] chairman dares to assault the correspondent of the Business Standard."
Overall, conditions for media in Bangladesh led the country to fall 10 places on the Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders. It now ranks 162 out of 180, where 1 shows a country with the best environment for journalism.
Azad would like to forget about the attack in December but finds it difficult to do.
"Before breaking my cellphone, Mohan deleted all the documents, including [items stored in] Google Drive. Later, I was brought to market and got a beating. My neck was hit with something very hard," he said, adding that he was briefly unconscious.
Eventually, Azad was able to escape to a hospital.
So far three people named in the complaint, including Mohan and Chowdhury, have been granted bail. But others named in his complaint have not been taken into custody, Azad said.
