Attacks on the Press in 2010 - Committee to Protect Journalists

<strong>Attacks</strong> on the Press in 2010country snapshots<strong>Attacks</strong> and developments throughout the regionBangladesh»»An unidentified man threatened photojournalist Shahidul Alam onMarch 26 in the capital, Dhaka, after the photographer objected to thegovernment shutting down his exhibition of photos of extrajudicialkillings, according to international news reports. The man told a guardat Alam’s gallery, Drik Picture Library, that the photographer “wouldmeet his death on the streets, by bullets,” Drik said in a statement.»»The Supreme Court sentenced Mahmudur Rahman, editor and partowner of the Bengali-language daily Amar Desh, to a six-month prisonterm on August 19, according to international news reports. The courtsaid the paper denigrated its reputation in an April article accusingit of bias toward the ruling Awami League. Rahman, a former energyadviser for the opposition Bangladesh National Party, was arrested inJune, when 200 or more police officers shut down the paper’s Dhakapublishing facilities. More than 20 defamation charges against Rahman,filed by members or allies of the ruling Awami League, includingcurrent energy adviser, Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, were pending inlate year.Cambodia»»Hang Chakra, editor and publisher of the pro-opposition daily KhmerMachas Srok, was pardoned as part of a Cambodian New Year amnestyand released from prison on April 13, three months short ofcompleting his one-year prison term for “criminal disinformation” inarticles about government corruption, news reports said. After hisrelease, he told local journalists he would continue publishing thenewspaper, although it suspended operations in June for financial reasons,local news reports said. A relaunch was scheduled for late year,the Phnom Penh Post reported.Fiji»»The military regime barred criticism of leader Frank Bainimarama’sdecision not to call national elections. Bainimarama had pledgedto restore democracy after he took power in a 2006 coup. Thegovernment monitored newsrooms and maintained heavy censorship170