Mahinur Khan was hospitalized and sustained a torn ligament in his leg, broken kneecaps, and significant swelling and bruising throughout his body, according to his brother and that Al-Jazeera report.
Locals informed the Khan family that the attackers were supporters of Humayoun Rashid Jony, a Dhaka official and member of the Awami League, Zulkarnain Saer Khan said.
Mahinur Khan’s wife filed a complaint at the Dhaka Mirpur Model Police Station on March 17. The investigating officer in the case, Sub-Inspector Shahin Alam, visited the family’s home to inquire about the attack and said that police were unable to identify any suspects, Zulkarnain Saer Khan told CPJ, adding that no suspects have been apprehended as of March 24.
CPJ contacted Alam via messaging app for comment but did not receive any response.
Following the publication of this alert, Jony responded to CPJ’s request for comment sent via messaging app, saying, “I have no history of violence in my life.” Jony did not immediately respond to CPJ’s calls and messages requesting further comment.
Zulkarnain Saer Khan has contributed to Al-Jazeera, the investigative news website Netra News, Israel’s Haaretz newspaper, and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, according to CPJ’s review of his work.
Bangladesh law enforcement have submitted multiple requests to Twitter to remove tweets from Khan’s account, where he frequently posts political news and commentary, including one in November 2022 that alleged Bangladesh government officials had submitted malicious reports to Meta, Facebook’s parent company, resulting in multiple temporary restrictions on the journalist’s Facebook page.
CPJ called and messaged Dhaka police spokesperson Roy Niyati and emailed Prime Minister Hasina’s office and the Awami League for comment, but did not receive any replies.
CPJ has previously documented retaliation against the family members of foreign-based Bangladeshi journalists, including the September 2022 arrests of the brothers of U.K.-based Shamsul Alam Liton and Abdur Rab Bhuttow and the October 2021 arrest of the sister of U.S.-based Kanak Sarwar. Those journalists’ siblings have been released on bail, the journalists told CPJ via messaging app.
[Editors’ note: This article has been changed in its third paragraph to correctly characterize Khan’s employment. The eighth and ninth paragraphs were updated to include Jony’s response to CPJ.]