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| Sunday, 20 November 2005 |
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Bangladeshi reporter strangled DHAKA, Nov 19 (AFP) - A Bangladeshi national newspaper journalist who specialised in crime investigations was found murdered at his office, police said Friday. Gautam Das, 28, a staff reporter for the Bengali-language Samakal daily in the central town of Faridpur, was believed to have been killed late Wednesday at his office but his body was discovered Thursday, police said. "He had been strangled. A murder case has been registered although no arrests have been made yet," Faridpur sub-inspector Abdul Ali told AFP. Police were investigating the motive for the slaying and gave no further comment. Reporters Without Borders called the murder "barbaric" and said Das was apparently beaten up before being killed. Das specialised in investigations into illegal activities and abuse of power, the Paris-based media watchdog said in a statement. "He had recently written articles about drug trafficking in the region," it said. The group called on police to mount an "exhaustive and impartial" investigation. "The impunity that exists in Bangladesh encourages criminals to continue to strike at journalists who expose their misdeeds," the statement said. "We are revolted by the murder of this young journalist who knew his life was at risk but continued despite this to do his job," it added. Earlier this year Reporters Without Borders branded Bangladesh a "kind of hell" for journalists with a physical attack on a journalist every other day on average during 2004. Four reporters were killed and 10 were arrested in 2004, according to its figures. The group said Bangladesh, for the third year running, had the largest number of journalists physically attacked or threatened with death. The Dhaka government rejected the group's report as unfounded. Editors, while critical of the general level of violence against journalists, said some were targeted for other reasons. |
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