New Age
January 15, 2004, in Khulna, Bangladesh

Saha, a veteran journalist and press freedom activist, was targeted and killed in a bomb attack in the southwestern city of Khulna.

Saha, 45, a correspondent with the daily New Age and a contributor to the BBC's Bengali-language service, was taking a rickshaw home from the Khulna Press Club when unidentified assailants stopped his vehicle and threw a bomb at him, according to local journalists. The assailants fled the scene.

Police suspect that members of the region's outlawed Maoist guerrilla groups may be responsible for the attack. On the day of Saha's murder, an underground leftist group, Janajuddha (People's War), a faction of the Purbo Banglar Communist Party, claimed responsibility for the killing in letters faxed to local news organizations.

A former reporter with the daily Sangbad, Saha had 20 years of journalism experience and was known for his bold reporting on the Khulna region's criminal gangs, drug traffickers, and Maoist insurgents, said local journalists. According to these sources, in recent days, Saha felt that he was increasingly at risk of reprisal for his reporting.

He told colleagues that he had received several death threats that he suspected may have come from criminal gangs.

Saha, who was active in Bangladesh's press freedom community, was the former president of the Khulna Press Club and worked closely with the Bangladesh Center for Development, Journalism, and Communication, a local press freedom group.

Police charged 13 alleged Maoists insurgents with Saha's murder in June, although only a fraction were in custody. Local journalists say that those responsible for organizing the attack had not been arrested.

Two suspects, leaders of the Janajuddha faction, died in separate shootouts with police in late August. Authorities also accused the two dead suspects, Altaf Hossain and Imam Sarder, in the murder of Humayun Kabir, an editor from Khulna who died in a violent attack in June, according to local news reports.

Medium:Print
Job:Print Reporter
Beats Covered:Crime, Politics
Gender:Male
Local or Foreign:Local
Freelance:No
Type of Death:Murder
Suspected Source of Fire:Political Group
Impunity:Partial
Taken Captive:No
Tortured:No
Threatened:Yes

 

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