![An Afghan woman in Kandahar on July 28.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/000_36644XK-1.jpg?w=652)
CPJ has called on Bangladesh authorities to investigate the killings of journalists Hasan Mehedi, Md. Shakil Hossain, and Abu Taher Md Turab and other attacks on reporters covering deadly nationwide protests over government job quotas.
“CPJ is deeply disturbed by the killing of journalists Hasan Mehedi, Md. Shakil Hossain, and Abu Taher Md Turab while they were reporting on the quota protests in Bangladesh,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Beh Lih Yi. “The Bangladesh government must hold to account those responsible for all assaults on journalists and fully restore internet and phone services to allow the free flow of information needed to cover matters of public interest.���
Bangladesh authorities imposed an internet shutdown and severely disrupted mobile services on July 18. Broadband internet was partially restored in limited areas on Tuesday evening, but mobile services and social media remained blocked as of July 26.
CPJ has confirmed attacks on at least 14 journalists and is continuing to investigate reports that dozens more have been assaulted either by police, protesters, or supporters of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of the ruling Awami League party. Of the 14, several required hospital treatment for injuries including head wounds.
Marking the second anniversary of Guatemalan journalist José Rubén Zamora’s detention, the Committee to Protect Journalists renews its calls for President Bernardo Arévalo’s administration to free Zamora without further delay.
“For two years now, José Rubén Zamora has been behind bars in horrific conditions, despite a court order for a retrial,” said Cristina Zahar, CPJ’s Latin America program coordinator. “This disgraceful travesty of justice suggests a breakdown in the country’s rule of law and punitive retaliation against independent journalists. Zamora must be freed immediately.”
Zamora, 67, remains in pretrial isolation in conditions at Mariscal Zavala military jail in Guatemala City that his lawyers say amount to torture.
We defend the right of journalists to report the news safely and without fear of reprisal.