Irene Z. Khan, director general of the International Development Law Organisation, says development and democracy are not possible without the presence of a free media and freedom of speech and the government will be in the dark unless the media is free. The prominent rights activist pointed this out on Monday afternoon while delivering a speech in Dhaka, titled ‘Human rights and free media: Beneficial or impediment for development’.
The speech, delivered at the Daily Star Centre in Dhaka and was organised by the Daily Star as part of its 25
th founding anniversary celebrations.
Irene Khan, in her speech, talked about the history of the free media in the USA and Europe and
Officers from the army’s intelligence agency have instructed major companies to stop advertising in Bangladesh’s two leading independent newspapers, sources told Al Jazeera.
The demand for foreign-owned corporations to stop advertising in the Prothom Alo and Daily Star newspapers was allegedly given by officers from the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), following the August 16 publication of a story on the army’s killing of five men in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
Later that day, army officials contacted both papers and criticised them for describing the dead men as “indigenous” people instead of “terrorists”, sources said on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. Since then, Prothom Alo the most widely read newspaper in the country with
the mainstream of...
