For years, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was notorious for running one of the world’s largest prisons for journalists. Today, shockingly, Bangladesh has joined this shameful club under the unelected, military-backed rule of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus. Since the Islamist-backed coup of 2024 that brought Yunus to power, Bangladesh has witnessed an unprecedented assault on press freedom. Journalists are being charged under bogus murder cases, dragged into court under the draconian Anti-Terrorism Act, beaten in custody, and silenced through fear. What was once a vibrant, if imperfect, media landscape is now being suffocated under state-patronized repression that increasingly resembles Taliban-style authoritarianism.
The new jailer of journalists
According to the International Journalists’ Network, “There have been more than 354 journalists harassed, 74 cases of violence reported, 113 criminal charges filed, and press credentials revoked for 167 journalists, according to the RRAG report”. The same report notes that 294 attacks and harassment cases have taken place since Yunus assumed power.
Unsurprisingly, Yunus’s Press Wing dismissed the findings as “a wildly misleading piece of disinformation”. But denial has become routine for his administration, which has consistently brushed aside allegations of human rights abuses, repression of minorities, and the systematic intimidation of journalists.
Beh Lih Yi, Asia program coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), condemned the Yunus regime’s tactics: “We are disturbed by the apparently baseless detentions and criminal cases against journalists, and incidents of media groups’ offices being targeted and vandalized. These assaults on press freedom must end. They create a chilling effect on the media”.
Case study: The arrest of Monjurul Alam Panna
The assault on journalist Monjurul Alam Panna on August 28, 2025, serves as a chilling example. Panna was arrested from an auditorium of the Dhaka Reporters Unity while attending a discussion titled “Our Great Liberation War and the Constitution of Bangladesh”. The program, organized by Mancha 71, was violently disrupted by a group of protestors who had issued threats online beforehand.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemned Panna’s arrest, highlighting that he and 15 others were detained under fabricated charges. During his court appearance the next day, Panna was paraded in a bulletproof vest and helmet, as if he were a dangerous criminal. On September 4, images went viral showing police officers choking him in court – an act of blatant brutality that underscored the Yunus regime’s confidence in its impunity.
Legal experts, rights activists, and journalists across Bangladesh have condemned the charges as politically motivated. Yet Panna remains behind bars in Keraniganj Central Jail, symbolizing the grim reality of Yunus’s Bangladesh.
Islamist extremism thrives amid crackdowns
What makes this repression even more alarming is the hypocrisy: while independent journalists are persecuted, Islamist extremists operate with disturbing freedom. Ansar al-Islam, the Bangladeshi branch of Al Qaeda, openly justifies the killings of secular writers and bloggers by branding them as “enemies of Islam”. Instead of confronting these extremists, Yunus’s government has allowed their poisonous rhetoric to flourish, ensuring that fear dominates the public sphere.
In July 2025, Islami Andolan Bangladesh – known as “Jamaat Chor Monai” – vowed to model Bangladesh after Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. Jamaat-e-Islami, one of Yunus’s key allies, is pushing for similar Islamist goals while ensuring the regime remains in power indefinitely. This dangerous convergence of state repression and Islamist radicalism threatens to transform Bangladesh into a regional epicenter of extremism.
Global concern grows
Earlier this year, a coalition of major human rights organizations – including Amnesty International, ARTICLE 19, Human Rights Watch, PEN America, and the Committee to Protect Journalists – issued a joint statement warning of the deteriorating situation:
“We note with alarm the number of arrests and incidents of harassment and violence against individuals and human rights defenders exercising their right to freedom of expression in Bangladesh. The government has an obligation to guarantee the right to freedom of expression, including protecting people from attacks by non-state actors”.
The International Society for Human Rights echoed similar concerns in its statement “Violent Attacks and Cases Against Journalists are on the Rise”. It highlighted the surge of violent attacks since February 2025, with journalists beaten with sticks and hammers by police and political activists.
Bangladesh has now been listed among the most dangerous countries for journalists in South Asia.
Democracy under threat
The press is universally recognized as the fourth pillar of democracy. Yet under Yunus’s unelected rule, Bangladesh’s media is being systematically dismantled. Ironically, Yunus – a Nobel Peace Prize laureate – has revealed himself to be “un-noble” in practice, overseeing a regime that weaponizes the judiciary and law enforcement to silence dissent.
Yunus has promised elections in February 2026, but his Islamist allies are already working to derail them. The possibility of Bangladesh sliding into a Taliban-style authoritarian state is no longer speculative – it is fast becoming reality. If the current trajectory continues, journalists will not be the only victims; democracy itself will perish in silence.
The international community must not remain silent as Bangladesh descends into tyranny. The persecution of journalists is not an internal matter – it is a direct assault on universal values of freedom, democracy, and human rights. Today, Monjurul Alam Panna and dozens of others languish in prison, their only “crime” being their courage to speak truth to power. Tomorrow, it may be the entire nation of Bangladesh that pays the price for global indifference.
Muhammad Yunus must be reminded that journalism is not a crime, and journalists are not criminals. If Bangladesh is to avoid becoming another Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, the world must raise its voice – loudly, clearly, and without hesitation – before it is too late.
