GENEVA: Global media safety and rights body Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) has strongly condemned the shooting down of journalist Rana Pratap Bairagi, 45, in crisis-ridden Bangladesh and demanded a thorough probe to identify the culprits for punishment under the law.
Bangladesh, engulfed with political unrest while heading for its national election on February 12, 2026, recorded the murder of journalist Rana Pratap Bairagi, the first journo-victim across the world in 2026.
As per local media reports, Bairagi, a resident of Arua village in Jessore locality of south Bangladesh, was fatally shot in his head by three miscreants on January 5. The editor of a Bengali newspaper titled Dainik BD Khabar was found dead at Kopalia Bazar with his throat also slit. Son of a Hindu schoolteacher in Keshabpur upazila, Bairagi also ran an ice-making factory in Kopalia market. Blaise Lempen, president of PEC, has urged Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, head of the interim government in Dhaka, to take interest in delivering justice to the bereaved family.
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The Muslim majority nation has lately drawn international media attention for recent socio-political turmoil, where many religious minority families were attacked by radical elements across the country of over 170 million people.
In 2025, the south Asian country also witnessed the murder of five media professionals namely Assaduzzaman Tuhin (DainikPratidiner Kagoj), Bibhuranjan Sarkar (Ajker Patrika), Wahed-uz-Zaman Bulu (Dainik Ajker Kagoj), Khandahar Shah Alam (Dainik Matrijagat) and Imdadul Haque Milon (Bartaman Somoy).
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