Netra News

Netra News
TypeNews website
FormatOnline
PublisherBangladesh Media Network
Editor-in-chiefTasneem Khalil
EditorDavid Bergman
LanguageEnglish and Bangla
HeadquartersMalmö, Sweden
Websitehttps://netra.news

Netra News (Bengali: নেত্র নিউজ) is a Sweden-based investigative and public interest journalism platform[1] focusing on Bangladesh. The platform was launched on Dec. 26, 2019, by Tasneem Khalil, an exiled Bangladeshi journalist currently living in Sweden, who acts as its editor-in chief.[2]

Within 72 hours of its inception, the website was blocked by authorities in Bangladesh,[3] with Khalil himself alleging[4] and media reports suggesting that Bangladesh's military intelligence agency, Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), orchestrated the ban.[5] On 14 August 2022, Netra news came into international prominence for a whistleblower report alleging that Bangladesh officials were holding and torturing victims of enforced disappearances at Aynaghar (house of mirrors), a secret detention facility in Bangladesh.[6][7]

History

[edit]

Netra News is run by a grant provided by the National Endowment for Democracy,[8][9] a non-governmental and non-profit organization funded by the U.S. government.

It is a project under Bangladesh Media Network, which is overseen by a board comprising Kerstin Brunnberg (president), a prominent Swedish journalist, Bangladeshi-Australian academic Bina D’Costa (secretary), and Dan Morrison (treasurer), an American journalist.[10]

Published in both English and Bangla, the platform was co-founded by David Bergman, a journalist who has extensively worked in Bangladesh, who works as the editor of its English version. Israt Jahan, a Bangladeshi journalist based in Sweden, has joined the news organization on Nov. 1, 2020 as the editor of its Bangla edition.[11]

The website, in its opening editorial, stated that it decided not to name any other journalists associated with it, citing “security concerns.”[12]

Major stories

[edit]

Some of Netra News reports created a lot of noise in Bangladesh. The news outlet has investigated top ministers, close aides and relatives of the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and came up with groundbreaking stories.

A wrist of luxury

[edit]

Netra News unearthed the story of how Bangladesh's top minister and the second in line of Awami League Obaidul Quader took some of the most expensive watches that cost tens of thousands of USD in lieu of awarding lucrative road and highway contracts.[13] Obaidul Quader later admitted to holding the pricey wristwatches mentioned in the media story, claiming that they were gifts from Awami League fans and leaders.[14] In an interview with Voice of America in April 2023, he admitted to having a large collection of wristwatches and accepting pricey gifts from party supporters.[15] However, the claim that Obaidul Quader received expensive gifts suggests that he violated the Toshakhana (Maintenance and Administrative) Rules 1974. Section 4(b) of the guidelines states that ministers may accept gifts of up to 30,000 Bangladeshi takas (equal to USD 300) without turning them over to the government treasury. The Bangladesh chapter of Transparency International questioned his purchase of pricey wristwatches.[16]

Secret prisoners of Dhaka

[edit]

The news outlet blew the lid of a secret prison maintained by the Director General of Forces Intelligence named Aynaghar or Mirror House. Two former inmates of the secret prison publicly came out and shared their experience in the report.[17]

Website block

[edit]

As one of its first reports, the website ran a story[18] alleging that Obaidul Quader, the general secretary of the ruling Awami League party and a cabinet minister, had a collection of luxury watches from brands including Rolex, Louis Vuitton, and Ulysse Nardin, the price of which was not consistent with his publicly disclosed income.[5] The website was blocked days after the story had been published.[19]

In the wake of the ban, the website launched a mirror version based in Google Cloud Firebase Storage, which was also blocked by authorities only to be forced to lift the ban following complaints from app developers who relied on the Google service.[20]

However, the mirror site was blocked again following the publication of a report based on a leaked United Nations memo forecasting up to 2 million deaths in Bangladesh in the COVID-19 crisis in a "no-intervention" scenario.[21] The website of Benar News, a Malaysia-based news agency, was also blocked in Bangladesh following its publication of the story quoting Netra News.[22]

Response

[edit]

The Obaidul Quader exposé triggered a call for investigations from Transparency International Bangladesh,[23] an anti-graft watchdog. The minister subsequently claimed that he had received the watches as gifts.[24]

In January 2020, Netra News published a report accusing Tabith Awal, a candidate of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party in Dhaka mayoral elections, of failing to "disclose ownership of a foreign company in his affidavit to the Election Commission of Bangladesh."[25] Following the publication of the report, AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik, a controversial justice of Supreme Court of Bangladesh, filed a petition to the high court challenging Awal’s candidacy.[26] However, the high court rejected the petition and allowed Awal to contest in the election.[27]

On March 21, 2020, Netra News published a leaked preliminary research report prepared by a group of Bangladeshi and U.S.-based researchers led by Malay Kanti Mridha of BRAC University predicting that Bangladesh faced up to 500,000 deaths in the COVID-19 crisis without any government interventions. The story led the university to launch an internal investigation against Mridha,[28] a move that was condemned by academic freedom activists.[29] The website also subsequently accused the university of “[attempting] to restrict access” to the report by forcing document hosting website Scribd to remove it on copyright grounds from the latter’s website despite having previously claimed that it had not authorized the report.[30]

On March 28, 2020, the platform leaked a United Nations interagency memo,[31] which predicted up to 2 million deaths in Bangladesh from Covid-19 in a “no-intervention” scenario. Bangladesh’s foreign minister, AK Abdul Momen, criticized the leak of the memo, calling it “a total violation of the UN charter.”[22] The story, however, was widely picked up by global media outlets including The Atlantic,[32] South China Morning Post,[33] and The Australian.[34]

Netra News in May 2020 published an investigative story alleging that Bangladesh’s military intelligence hired and employed hackers and online trolls to go against dissenting activists on Facebook. The report was cited by Freedom House in the Bangladesh chapter of its Freedom on the Net 2020 report.[35] In December 2020, Facebook announced that it took actions against a Bangladeshi hacker group.[36]

In 2022, Netra News exposed how Rapid Action Battalion's intelligence wing abducted Ilias Ali. The report claimed that the close associates of Ziaul Ahsan was responsible for the enforced disappearance of the former lawmaker.[37]

Harassment

[edit]

The mother of Tasneem Khalil, the chief editor, has allegedly faced harassment at the hand of state agencies.

In October 2020, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights and Asian Human Rights Commission cited in their reports allegations made by Khalil that security officials visited his mother Nazneen Khalil’s residence in Sylhet to question her about his activities.[38] They also allegedly made threats saying that if they decide to visit her home again, their approach may be “different and not nice.”[39]

In a separate incident, the anti-terrorism unit of the Bangladesh police in June 2021 charged Khalil, among others, for “spreading rumours and carrying out anti-government activities.”[40]

Awards and Recognition

[edit]

Netra News has gained international recognition for its courageous journalism. In 2023, its investigation "Secret Prisoners of Dhaka" was shortlisted for the Global Shining Light Award,[41] an accolade recognizing investigative journalism in developing and transitioning countries. In 2024, Netra News, in collaboration with Deutsche Welle (DW), won the prestigious Human Rights Press Award for their documentary "Inside Bangladesh's Death Squad,"[42] which provided evidence of targeted killings and torture by an elite Bangladeshi unit.

Additionally, Netra News won a Sigma Award for their project "Body Count: Extrajudicial Executions in Bangladesh,"[43] which combined data journalism and fieldwork to highlight alleged extrajudicial killings and acts of torture by Bangladeshi security forces.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Bangladesh journalist's disappearance casts poor light on press freedom". Deutsche Welle. 2020-03-22. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  2. ^ "About". Netra News. Retrieved 2021-07-08.
  3. ^ "Bangladesh blocks Sweden-based Netra News". New Age (Bangladesh). Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  4. ^ "Free Speech under fire: investigative journalism censored in Bangladesh". Chaos Press. 2020-02-11. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  5. ^ a b "Bangladesh blocks news website accusing minister of corruption". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  6. ^ "Former Detainees Describe Secret Prison in Bangladesh". VOA. Voice of America. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  7. ^ "Secret prisoners of Dhaka". Netra News — নেত্র নিউজ. 14 August 2022. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  8. ^ "Bangladesh blocks Sweden-based news website Netra News". cpj.org. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  9. ^ "Netra News". Netra News — নেত্র নিউজ. 2019-12-25. Retrieved 2024-09-02.
  10. ^ "ABOUT". Netra News. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  11. ^ নেত্র নিউজের বাংলা সংস্করণের সম্পাদক ইসরাত জাহান. Netra News (in Bengali). 2020-11-20. Retrieved 2021-07-08.
  12. ^ "Journalism in the public interest". Netra News. 2019-12-26. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  13. ^ "A wrist of luxury". Netra News — নেত্র নিউজ. 2019-12-26. Retrieved 2023-04-28.
  14. ^ "Luxury watches are gifts from Awami League activists, Obaidul Quader says". BDNews24. 2020-01-09. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
  15. ^ "আমি নিজের পয়সায় ঘড়ি কিনি না, এত টাকা দিয়ে ঘড়ি কেনা আমার পক্ষে সম্ভব নাঃ ওবায়দুল কাদের". Voice of America (in Bengali). 2023-04-09. Retrieved 2023-04-09.
  16. ^ "Toshakhana (Maintenance and Administrative) Rules 1974" (PDF). Cabinet Division. 2020-01-09. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
  17. ^ "Secret prisoners of Dhaka". Netra News — নেত্র নিউজ. 2022-08-14. Retrieved 2023-04-28.
  18. ^ "A wrist of luxury". Netra News. 2019-12-26. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  19. ^ "Bangladesh: Online Surveillance, Control". Human Rights Watch. 2020-01-08. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  20. ^ "BANGLADESH: Muzzling press freedom triggering risks on livelihood of Information Technology professionals". Asian Human Rights Commission. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  21. ^ "Netra News". Facebook. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  22. ^ a b "Bangladesh Govt Acknowledges Blocking BenarNews Websites". BenarNews. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  23. ^ "TIB asks why minister did not deposit costly watches with the state". Prothom Alo. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  24. ^ "Watch Out: Bangladeshi Minister Comments on His Published Photos with Fancy-looking Timepieces". BenarNews. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  25. ^ "Tabith keeps his mouth shut on reportedly undisclosed company in Singapore". bdnews24.com. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  26. ^ "Former SC Justice Manik demands cancellation of Tabith Awal's candidacy". Daily Sun. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  27. ^ "HC rejects petition seeking cancellation of Tabith's candidacy". The Daily Star. 2020-01-27. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  28. ^ Defranoux, Laurence (2020-04-02). "Coronavirus : le Bangladesh censure les lanceurs d'alerte". Libération (in French). Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  29. ^ "Researcher in trouble for co-authoring Bangladesh Covid-19 projections". Netra News — নেত্র নিউজ. 2020-03-22. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  30. ^ "Brac University attempts to restrict access to Bangladesh Covid-19 report". Netra News — নেত্র নিউজ. 2020-03-26. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  31. ^ McLaughlin, Timothy (2020-04-02). "The Unseen Pandemic". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  32. ^ McLaughlin, Timothy. "The Unseen Pandemic". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2021-07-08.
  33. ^ "Warning of 2 million Bangladesh virus deaths 'based on wrong assumption'". South China Morning Post. 2020-04-01. Retrieved 2021-07-08.
  34. ^ "Two million could die, UN warns". The Australian. Retrieved 2021-07-08.
  35. ^ "Bangladesh: Freedom on the Net 2020 Country Report". Freedom House. Retrieved 2021-07-08.
  36. ^ "Taking Action Against Hackers in Bangladesh and Vietnam". About Facebook. 2020-12-11. Retrieved 2021-07-08.
  37. ^ "Leaked documents: RAB abducted Ilias Ali". Netra News — নেত্র নিউজ. 2022-04-21. Retrieved 2023-03-17.
  38. ^ "Crackdown on dissent deepens in Bangladesh". UCA News. Retrieved 2021-07-08.
  39. ^ "Bangladesh: Stop Intimidating Activists, Victims' Families". Human Rights Watch. 2020-10-24. Retrieved 2021-07-08.
  40. ^ "Police press charges against cartoonist Kishore, 6 others in digital security case". Dhaka Tribune. 2021-06-13. Retrieved 2021-07-08.
  41. ^ "Investigations from Nigeria, Venezuela, South Africa, and North Macedonia Win Global Shining Light Awards at GIJC23". GIJN. 2023-09-21. Retrieved 2024-07-21.
  42. ^ "Press Award goes to DW documentary about death squad". DW. 2024-10-05. Retrieved 2024-07-21.
  43. ^ "Ten outstanding data projects win the Sigma Awards 2024 competition". Sigma Awards. 2024-03-22. Retrieved 2024-07-21.
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