Bangladesh’s media landscape darkens under the Yunus interim government’s alleged abuse of anti-terror statutes to target journalists nationwide. By December 2025, reports tally 640 victims subjected to legal barrages, fiscal scrutiny, and physical attacks—a move branded as profoundly ignoble.
Central to the outcry: permissions for warrantless journalist detentions, resulting in trial-less months behind bars with fabricated grave charges.
Illustrative arrests include Anis Almgir’s December 14 seizure in Dhaka for social media critiques recast as terrorism; he stays confined. Likewise, Monjurul Alam Panna’s August 28 apprehension for a protected constitutional dialogue underscores the pattern.
Press secretary Shafiqul Alam parries, denying any criticism-driven prosecutions and touting boundless expression. But this clashes with narratives of ‘legalized suppression,’ where courts and cops—press guardians by mandate—enforce the chill.
Critics slam the law’s provisions for boundless detention, prolonged custody questioning, and life bids, with terror vaguely covering fear-mongering or operational disruptions.
Panic permeates Dhaka newsrooms; an unnamed executive confessed terror at critiquing power, with peers muting themselves for safety. Climaxing horrors struck in December: mobs firebombed The Daily Star and Prothom Alo, vilifying them as India-Hasina allies.
As the nation rebuilds post-upheaval, safeguarding journalists is paramount. Failure invites authoritarian entrenchment, eroding public trust and global standing in an era valuing informed citizenry.