UN rights experts express concern at failure to probe Sagar-Runi murder
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Monday
January 30, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
MONDAY, JANUARY 30, 2023
UN rights experts express concern at failure to probe Sagar-Runi murder

Bangladesh

TBS Report
11 February, 2022, 07:45 pm
Last modified: 12 February, 2022, 09:28 am

Related News

  • UN-mandated rights inquiry rebukes Israel for seeking 'complete control'
  • UN Human Rights Commissioner Bachelet begins visit to China
  • Sagar-Runi murder: Journalists frustrated with RAB’s failure to file probe report in 10 years
  • 2012 journo-couple murder: Bring perpetrators to justice, says ARTICLE 19
  • Sagar-Runi murder case: Submission of probe report deferred for 84th time

UN rights experts express concern at failure to probe Sagar-Runi murder

TBS Report
11 February, 2022, 07:45 pm
Last modified: 12 February, 2022, 09:28 am
UN rights experts express concern at failure to probe Sagar-Runi murder

On the 10th anniversary of the murder of prominent journalists Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Runi, UN human rights experts have expressed their deep concern at the failure of the Bangladeshi authorities to complete an investigation and bring the perpetrators to justice.

 "A decade after the killing of the two journalists, there is still no justice as a result of an appalling and pervasive culture of impunity in Bangladesh," said the experts in a joint statement on Friday.

The statement read, "Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Runi were stabbed to death in their home in front of their 5-year-old son on 12 February 2012. It is widely believed that the couple were targeted because of their investigative reporting on corruption in Bangladesh's energy sector which they were about to publish."

Mentioning that the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) was tasked by the High Court to investigate the case in 2012, it read, on 24 November 2021, the court demanded for the 84th time that RAB should submit its findings. It has still not done so.

"When crimes against journalists go unpunished, they embolden the perpetrators and encourage more attacks, threats and killings with the intention of intimidating the media into silence. We see those deeply worrying signs in Bangladesh," said the experts. 

The joint statement also mentioned that at least 15 journalists have been killed in Bangladesh in the past decade. They said they the UN experts have received numerous reports of journalists, human rights defenders, and members of civil society organisations being arbitrarily detained, attacked, abducted, threatened online and offline, and subjected to judicial harassment.

The incidents appear to be rarely investigated or prosecuted, it read. 

In some cases, local authorities are thought to be directly implicated in the attacks. Allegations brought to the attention of the government of Bangladesh by the UN experts often have gone unanswered. No response was ever received from the government to a letter sent by UN experts following the murder of Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Runi in 2012, the experts added.

The experts of the UN Human Rights Council include Irene Khan, Mary Lawlor, Clément N Voule, Nils Melzer and Morris Tidball-Binz.

They expressed concern that the trial for the fatal shooting of journalist and human rights defender Abdul Hakim Shimul in February 2017, allegedly by the then mayor of Shahzadpur, has been repeatedly delayed. Currently, it has been placed on a stay order by the High Court, with all the accused on bail.

The experts also recalled the death in custody in February 2021 of the writer Mushtaq Ahmed, following nine months in pre-trial detention on charges under the Digital Security Act (DSA) for publishing an article criticising the government's pandemic response.

The authorities failed to conduct an independent and impartial investigation into his death in custody, despite the concerns of his family that Ahmed had been tortured whilst in police custody, and that there was a three-hour delay in admitting him to hospital once he fell sick. Instead, an internal committee set up by the Home Ministry concluded his death was natural, without investigating the family's claims. UN experts received no response from the government when they raised their concerns about his death in custody.

"Journalism should not carry the inherent risk of being attacked, intimidated or killed with impunity but unfortunately that is the current reality for many journalists, human rights defenders and other members of civil society in Bangladesh," said the experts.

"We urge the government to conduct and complete prompt, thorough, independent and effective investigations and bring perpetrators to justice for the murder of Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Runi and other killings of journalists and human rights defenders in Bangladesh."

Top News

Sagar-Runi murder / UN Human Rights

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Photo: Collected
    Economic slump drags down growth in VAT collection from big cos
  • It's corruption that bites business harder: CPD
    It's corruption that bites business harder: CPD
  • Import slowdown to affect economic growth: ADB country head
    Import slowdown to affect economic growth: ADB country head

MOST VIEWED

  • Picture: Collected
    US Embassy condemns recent incidents of visa fraud
  • Bapex calls candidates for job test 9 years after advert!
    Bapex calls candidates for job test 9 years after advert!
  • Photo: Saqlain Rizve
    Bangladeshi university students identified as problematic users of Facebook, internet: Study
  • Four top bankers arrested in DSA case filed by S Alam group 
    Four top bankers arrested in DSA case filed by S Alam group 
  • Matarbari coal-power plant, one of the projects funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica)-funded projects.
    More than 50% Japan-funded projects lagging behind
  • 690 audit objections worth Tk1.06 lakh crore placed in JS
    Pension scheme for people aged 18-50 gets JS nod

Related News

  • UN-mandated rights inquiry rebukes Israel for seeking 'complete control'
  • UN Human Rights Commissioner Bachelet begins visit to China
  • Sagar-Runi murder: Journalists frustrated with RAB’s failure to file probe report in 10 years
  • 2012 journo-couple murder: Bring perpetrators to justice, says ARTICLE 19
  • Sagar-Runi murder case: Submission of probe report deferred for 84th time

Features

Nandita Sharmin's journey to give organic skincare a new identity

Nandita Sharmin's journey to give organic skincare a new identity

15h | Mode
Illustration: TBS

'The silver lining is that the worst is sort of behind us': Hamid Rashid, UN economist

19h | Panorama
Photo: Bloomberg

BuzzFeed and AI are a match made in fad city

18h | Panorama
Snipe in flight. Photo: Enam Ul Haque

Baikka Beel: 'A world where snipe work late'

1d | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Sarika Sabrin is waiting for a good film

Sarika Sabrin is waiting for a good film

9h | TBS Entertainment
Take your football game to the next level at Next Level academy

Take your football game to the next level at Next Level academy

10h | TBS SPORTS
“Investments risky without consistent policy, reliable data”- SK Bashir Uddin

“Investments risky without consistent policy, reliable data”- SK Bashir Uddin

11h | TBS Round Table
What does Shahrukh has in his 770 million dollar property?

What does Shahrukh has in his 770 million dollar property?

1d | TBS Entertainment

Most Read

1
Picture: Collected
Bangladesh

US Embassy condemns recent incidents of visa fraud

2
Illustration: TBS
Banking

16 banks at risk of capital shortfall if top 3 borrowers default

3
Photo: Collected
Splash

Hansal Mehta responds as Twitter user calls him 'shameless' for making Faraaz

4
A frozen Beyond Burger plant-based patty. Photographer: AKIRA for Bloomberg Businessweek
Bloomberg Special

Fake meat was supposed to save the world. It became just another fad

5
Bapex calls candidates for job test 9 years after advert!
Bangladesh

Bapex calls candidates for job test 9 years after advert!

6
Representational Image
Banking

Cash-strapped Islami, Al-Arafah and National turn to Sonali Bank for costly fund

EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net