Guwahati: The Rights and Risks Analysis Group (RRAG) has reiterated its claim of attacks on 640 journalists in Bangladesh under the interim government of Dr. Mohammed Yunus, spanning August 2024 to March 2025.
This statement comes in response to the Chief Adviser’s Press Wing Facts, which dismissed the RRAG’s allegations, published in The Hindu, as “wildly misleading disinformation.”
The RRAG, in turn, denounced the Fact-Checking Unit as a “Disinformation Lab.”
“The figures of 640 journalists were arrived at based on the statistics published by the Manabadhikar Shongskriti Foundation (MSF) based in Dhaka, after monitoring local newspapers and verifying the same. The MSF in its Statistical Data for 2024 and monthly data for January-March 2025 stated that criminal cases were filed against 182 journalists, while 206 journalists faced acts of violence and intimidation. The figures of 85 journalists being summoned by the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) were reported in Bangladeshi media and the names of every journalist whose bank details were sought by the BFIU was given by the RRAG,” Suhas Chakma, Director of the RRAG, stated.
He said, “The Daily Star reported on May 3, 2025, that 266 journalists have faced criminal cases since 5 August 2024. Therefore, the figure of attacks on 640 journalists given by the RRAG is actually lower than the actual number of journalists attacked under Dr Yunus. The denial by the CA Press Wing Facts is therefore nothing but Goebbels-speak.”
Responding to the claims of the CA Press Wing Facts that “it is entirely untrue that the Interim Government itself has targeted journalists”, the RRAG stated that “Nobel Peace Laureate Dr Muhammed Yunus does not understand basic legal mandate that a government whether interim or regular is liable for commission and omission relating to human rights violations within the jurisdiction of a State i.e. Bangladesh.”
It said, “Apart from false prosecution of the journalists in various criminal cases, including those filed by the interim government, the issuance of notices to 85 journalists by the BFIU is nothing but targeting of the journalists by Dr Yunus government itself.”
Regarding insinuations against RRAG’s reporting of higher death figures during the September 2024 violence in Bangladesh’s Chittagong Hill Tracts, the organization clarified, “RRAG’s figure of nine deaths was based on the number of unidentified bodies provided by Khagrachari Hospital.”
RRAG further noted the Interim Government of Bangladesh’s formation of a seven-member inquiry committee on September 26, 2024, headed by. Mohammad Nurullah Noori, Additional Divisional Commissioner of Chittagong, was tasked with submitting its report within 14 working days.
Highlighting the delay, RRAG stated, “More than seven months later, the Interim Government is yet to release its own investigative report, suggesting intent to conceal the truth, including the actual death toll, and protect those responsible. Without publishing its own inquiry findings, the Chief Advisor’s Press Wing has no basis to comment on the death toll based on news reports. The Government must release its own investigative report first and then speak.”
Addressing the Chief Advisor’s assertion that RRAG simultaneously attacked fact-checkers and undermined those challenging its narratives, Suhas Chakma clarified, “RRAG merely urged the DismisLab to accurately reflect the truth in its investigative report ‘From Four to a Hundred,’ based on available records, a correction the DismisLab was ultimately compelled to make.”
It said, “The fact that these internal communications between RRAG and DismisLab are known to the CA Press Wing Facts establishes, beyond any reasonable doubt, that DismisLab operates as an extension of the CA Press Wing Facts.”
Regarding the RRAG’s accusation that Dr. Yunus downplays religiously motivated violence, Chakma further stated, “Prior to any investigation by any agency, Dr. Yunus claimed on September 5, 2024, that there is no clear distinction between Awami League supporters and Hindus concerning the attacks on religious minorities in Bangladesh following the fall of Sheikh Hasina. If this statement does not constitute downplaying religiously motivated violence, it is unclear what would.”
“A head of the government must speak based on the findings of an investigation done by its own agencies and not based on figments of imagination or manufactured investigation reports,” Chakma said.
