Spies silenced the press during July uprising: UN

Bangladesh’s intelligence agencies, including the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) and National Security Intelligence (NSI), waged a chilling campaign to muzzle journalists during the July 2024 uprising, a new United Nations report reveals. 

Released on February 12 by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) from Geneva, the “Human Rights Violations and Abuses related to the Protests of July and August 2024 in Bangladesh” Fact-Finding Report exposes a dark pattern of intimidation, violence, and media suppression.  

The report details how DGFI and NSI agents—backed by senior Ministry of Information officials—harassed editors and journalists, calling them at home, storming offices, and even showing up at private residences to demand changes to coverage. “Journalists faced a climate of fear, with media owners loyal to the Awami League blocking free reporting on the protests or the government’s brutal crackdown,” the report states. Some outlets, under pressure, churned out fabricated stories fed by intelligence and government officials, distorting the truth.  

In one shocking case, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) officers raided a media outlet, assaulted staff, and threatened them at gunpoint to reveal a journalist who exposed military abuses. NSI agents doubled down, warning the outlet against publishing the story, the report notes.  

The toll was devastating. From July 15 to August 5, 2024, at least six journalists were killed—at protests in Dhaka, Sylhet, and Sirajganj—while around 200 were injured. The UN found journalists were often caught in security forces’ indiscriminate gunfire, with photojournalists singled out for violence to prevent their cameras from capturing the chaos.  

On July 18, a journalist was shot dead by police while covering protests in Jatrabari. The next day, July 19, police fired lethal shotgun rounds at a BNP rally in Sylhet, killing a journalist photographing the scene as protesters fought back with flagpoles and bricks. In Dhaka’s Elephant Road, police warned a photojournalist, “Keep shooting, and you’ll be next”—minutes before fellow officers blasted another journalist with metal pellets, injuring his neck and limbs. In Paltan, another journalist fell wounded by police fire, caught in an unprovoked barrage.