May 14, 2002	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 1, 1423

PARIS, May 13: A joint declaration by French journalists’ rights association, the Reporters sans frontieres (RSF), and the Bangladesh Centre for Development, Journalism and Communication (BCDJC), accuses the government in Dhaka of having attacked more than 80 journalists and press photographers since coming to power.

The two associations charge the ruling coalition of having beaten between April 20 and May 2 two journalists and of threatening six with death.

In the joint declaration, RSF and BCDJC said they were “protesting against the new organized attacks on the media by government supporters”, “calling for them to stop,” and, as for those responsible, that “they be punished.”

According to a joint letter to Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, RSF secretary-general Robert Menard noted that “the government’ press freedom policy has proved to be totally ineffective.