Bangladesh media in fear after PM’s ‘people’s enemy’ attack

A demonstration in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, calling for the release of Shamsuzzaman Shams, a Prothom Alo reporter arrested under the DSA for an article on high food prices. Photograph: Abu Sufian Jewel/Zuma/Shutterstock

Four weeks ago, a reporter in Bangladesh was hauled from his office, badly beaten – and then thrown from the roof of his building, leaving him with fractures in his back, three broken ribs and a machete wound on his head.

The journalist, Ayub Meahzi, believes he was targeted for reporting on alleged local government ties to a criminal group.