Occupation: Sheikh Belaluddin Ahmed was the Khulna bureau chief of the daily, Dainik Sangram

Attack: He was attacked on 5 February 2005 when a bomb left on a motorbike in front of the Khulna Press Club exploded as he approached the motorbike. The explosion left Belaluddin seriously injured and in a critical condition. He died on 11 February 2005 in the intensive care unit of the Combined Military Hospital in Dhaka.

Three other journalists accompanying Belaluddin received various degrees of injuries and reportedly recovered. In the ongoing environment of impunity the government has so far failed to carry out rigorous investigations in the majority of such cases, but in a rare move the government has apparently decided to investigate this case more thoroughly.

Sheikh Belaluddin, a renowned journalist, was also a prominent member of the Islamic party, Jamaat-e-Islami, which is the second largest party in the ruling coalition. It is believed within the human rights community in Bangladesh that pressure from Jamaat-e-Islami for a full investigation of his killing may have prompted the authorities to voice assurances to that effect. However, there is no guarantee that the perpetrators will be brought to justice as a result.

Legal Redress: Charge sheets in this and another case of a journalist killed in a bomb attack (Humayun Kabir Balu) were submitted to the court in April 2005. However, in a joint statement, members of the Khulna Union of Journalists and the Khulna Press Club claimed the police had failed to identify those who sponsored the attacks.

A most revealing admission of this failure came from the Inspector General of Police on 2 April 2005 during a rare visit to Khulna. He told journalists:

“The purpose of my visit to Khulna is to monitor and oversee progress of investigation (sic) of murder of journalists Humayun Kabir Balu and Belaluddin… because, monitoring cell (sic) of the Home Ministry is not satisfied with investigation of these two murder cases”.

Amnesty International calls on the Government of Bangladesh to:

• Ensure that all those found to be responsible for the attack resulting in the death of Sheikh Belaluddin are brought to justice promptly and tried in accordance with fair trial standards;

Sheikh Belaluddin Ahmed

• Ensure that those subjected to attacks, their families, and their witnesses, receive full protection in their efforts to seek justice through the criminal justice system;

• Investigate promptly, fully and by a competent authority every report of death threats against human rights defenders and bring those making these threats to justice;

• Ensure that no one within the criminal justice system acts in connivance with the alleged perpetrators through bribery or negligence;

• Ensure that the police disclose evidence against perpetrators of abuses to the court;

• Ensure that all allegations of human rights abuses including those allegedly perpetrated by members of the ruling party or its allies are investigated promptly by an independent and competent authority and those found responsible are brought to justice regardless of their position in these parties or their links to the government;

• Investigate promptly, fully and by a competent authority every incident of assault on human rights defenders and bring to justice those persons carrying out these attacks, and those instigating them;

• Ensure that no human rights defender is subjected to arbitrary arrest, torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;

• Investigate fully, promptly and through a competent authority reports of arbitrary arrest and torture of human rights defenders and bring their perpetrators to justice.