Attacks and harassment targeting journalists in Bangladesh have increased sharply over the past decade, according to data from the Human Rights Support Society (HRSS). The group, which monitors 16 news outlets and conducts its own investigations, recorded 32 incidents in 2017. The number rose almost every year afterward, reaching 318 in 2025.
In the first nine months of 2026, HRSS documented 288 attacks that affected 518 journalists, of whom 297 were injured. The trend continued after a new elected government took office in February. From July to September 2026, HRSS recorded 88 attacks—nearly matching the 84 incidents in the same period of 2025 and double the 44 recorded in the third quarter of 2023.
Separate tracking by Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), which counts individual victims, shows a similar pattern. ASK reported 531 journalists harassed in 2024 and 381 in 2025—higher than any single year from 2017 to 2023. Another 315 journalists faced harassment in the first nine months of 2026. Harassment involving law enforcement has also risen, from 15 cases in 2024 to 23 in 2025 and 42 in the first nine months of 2026 alone.
The figures coincide with Bangladesh’s observance of the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists. Recent killings include the murder of Lutfuzzaman Fakir Alif, who had publicly warned police of threats linked to his reporting on smuggling, and Emdadul Haque Milon, gunned down in Khulna in December 2025. Physical assaults on journalists while on duty more than doubled after 2024, and attacks attributed to political activists remain elevated.
Rights observers note that journalists outside Dhaka face higher risks, and that political intolerance of criticism has persisted despite changes in government. Investigations into the December 2025 arson attacks on the offices of The Daily Star and Prothom Alo have also stalled, with charge sheets still pending more than 10 months later.