Geneva, August 8 (V7N) – The Press Emblem Campaign (PEC), a global media safety and rights organization based in Switzerland, has expressed grave concern over the killing of journalist Md Asaduzzaman Tuhin in Bangladesh. PEC has called on the interim administration in Dhaka to immediately apprehend those responsible for the brutal attack.

Tuhin, aged 40, was affiliated with the Bengali Dainik Pratidiner Kagoj, based in Mymensingh. On the evening of 7 August, he was attacked and killed while sitting at a tea stall in the Chandana Chowrasta market area of Gazipur, near Dhaka. Witnesses report that Tuhin had been recording video footage of a dispute involving local extortionists who were allegedly demanding money from market vendors. When asked to stop filming, he refused, after which the attackers assaulted him with sharp weapons. He died on the spot from his injuries. Police later recovered his body and sent it for autopsy.

"It is deeply tragic that a journalist lost his life for exposing criminal activities in a public area. The interim government must guarantee the safety of all media professionals, especially in the lead-up to the national elections scheduled for mid-February next year," said Blaise Lempen, President of the PEC. He further emphasized that the perpetrators must be brought to justice without delay.

This incident follows another journalist murder in Bangladesh just weeks earlier. On 25 June, Khandaker Shah Alam, a reporter for Dainik Matrijagat, was killed in the Nabinagar area of Dhaka by a recently released convict who had reportedly been imprisoned due to Alam’s reporting.

According to PEC’s South and Southeast Asia representative, Nava Thakuria, violence against journalists in the region is rising. On 6 August, one day before Tuhin's killing, another journalist, Anwar Hossain Sourav of Dainik Bangladesher Alo, was attacked by unidentified assailants in the Sahapara area of Gazipur. Sourav is currently undergoing treatment for his injuries in hospital.

Tuhin is the second journalist killed in Bangladesh since January 1 this year, and the 95th media worker killed globally in 2025. In recent weeks, similar tragedies have occurred across South Asia. In India, five journalists—Mukesh Chandrakar, Raghavendra Vajpayee, Sahadev Dey, Dharmendra Singh Chauhan, and Chintakayalu Naresh Kumar—have been murdered in the first half of the year. Pakistan reported the killings of Allah Dino Shar, Abdul Latif Baloch, and Syed Mohammed Shah. In Nepal, journalist Suresh Rajak was also killed. Additionally, radio journalist Erwin Labitad Segovia was murdered in the Philippines.

PEC has reiterated its demand that governments in the region ensure protection for journalists and uphold press freedom as a fundamental right.

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