Wikipedia

Netra News

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

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

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 atAynaghar(house of mirrors), a secret detention facility in Bangladesh.[6][7]

History

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Netra Newsis run by a grant provided by theNational 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 academicBina D’Costa(secretary), and Dan Morrison (treasurer), an American journalist.[10]

Published in bothEnglishandBangla,the platform was co-founded byDavid 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

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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 MinisterSheikh Hasinaand came up with groundbreaking stories.

A wrist of luxury

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Netra News unearthed the story of how Bangladesh's top minister and the second in line ofAwami LeagueObaidul Quadertook 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 withVoice of Americain 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 ofTransparency Internationalquestioned his purchase of pricey wristwatches.[16]

Secret prisoners of Dhaka

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

Website block

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As one of its first reports, the website ran a story[18]alleging thatObaidul Quader,the general secretary of the rulingAwami Leagueparty and a cabinet minister, had a collection of luxury watches from brands includingRolex,Louis Vuitton,andUlysse 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 CloudFirebaseStorage, 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 leakedUnited Nationsmemo forecasting up to 2 million deaths in Bangladesh in theCOVID-19crisis in a "no-intervention" scenario.[21]The website ofBenar News,a Malaysia-based news agency, was also blocked in Bangladesh following its publication of the story quotingNetra News.[22]

Response

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TheObaidul Quaderexposétriggered a call for investigations fromTransparency International Bangladesh,[23]an anti-graft watchdog. The minister subsequently claimed that he had received the watches as gifts.[24]

In January 2020,Netra Newspublisheda reportaccusing Tabith Awal, a candidate of the oppositionBangladesh Nationalist Partyin 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 ofSupreme 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 Newspublisheda leaked preliminary research report prepared by a group of Bangladeshi and U.S.-based researchers led by Malay Kanti Mridha ofBRAC Universitypredicting 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 websiteScribdto 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 aUnited Nationsinteragency memo,[31]whichpredictedup 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 includingThe Atlantic,[32]South China Morning Post,[33]andThe Australian.[34]

Netra Newsin 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 byFreedom Housein the Bangladesh chapter of its Freedom on the Net 2020 report.[35]In December 2020,Facebookannounced that it took actions against a Bangladeshi hacker group.[36]

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

Harassment

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The mother ofTasneem 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 RightsandAsian Human Rights Commissioncited in their reports allegations made by Khalil that security officials visited his mother Nazneen Khalil’s residence inSylhetto 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

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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

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  1. ^"Bangladesh journalist's disappearance casts poor light on press freedom".Deutsche Welle.2020-03-22.Retrieved2020-04-08.
  2. ^"About".Netra News.Retrieved2021-07-08.
  3. ^"Bangladesh blocks Sweden-based Netra News".New Age (Bangladesh).Retrieved2020-04-08.
  4. ^"Free Speech under fire: investigative journalism censored in Bangladesh".Chaos Press.2020-02-11.Retrieved2020-04-08.
  5. ^ab"Bangladesh blocks news website accusing minister of corruption".Al Jazeera.Retrieved2020-04-08.
  6. ^"Former Detainees Describe Secret Prison in Bangladesh".VOA.Voice of America.Retrieved30 August2022.
  7. ^"Secret prisoners of Dhaka".Netra News — নেত্র নিউজ.14 August 2022.Retrieved30 August2022.
  8. ^"Bangladesh blocks Sweden-based news website Netra News".cpj.org.Retrieved2020-04-08.
  9. ^"Netra News".Netra News — নেত্র নিউজ.2019-12-25.Retrieved2024-09-02.
  10. ^"ABOUT".Netra News.Retrieved2020-04-08.
  11. ^নেত্র নিউজের বাংলা সংস্করণের সম্পাদক ইসরাত জাহান.Netra News(in Bengali). 2020-11-20.Retrieved2021-07-08.
  12. ^"Journalism in the public interest".Netra News.2019-12-26.Retrieved2020-04-08.
  13. ^"A wrist of luxury".Netra News — নেত্র নিউজ.2019-12-26.Retrieved2023-04-28.
  14. ^"Luxury watches are gifts from Awami League activists, Obaidul Quader says".BDNews24.2020-01-09.Retrieved2022-03-17.
  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.Retrieved2023-04-09.
  16. ^"Toshakhana (Maintenance and Administrative) Rules 1974"(PDF).Cabinet Division.2020-01-09.Retrieved2022-03-17.
  17. ^"Secret prisoners of Dhaka".Netra News — নেত্র নিউজ.2022-08-14.Retrieved2023-04-28.
  18. ^"A wrist of luxury".Netra News.2019-12-26.Retrieved2020-04-08.
  19. ^"Bangladesh: Online Surveillance, Control".Human Rights Watch.2020-01-08.Retrieved2020-04-08.
  20. ^"BANGLADESH: Muzzling press freedom triggering risks on livelihood of Information Technology professionals".Asian Human Rights Commission.Retrieved2020-04-08.
  21. ^"Netra News".Facebook.Retrieved2020-04-08.
  22. ^ab"Bangladesh Govt Acknowledges Blocking BenarNews Websites".BenarNews.Retrieved2020-04-08.
  23. ^"TIB asks why minister did not deposit costly watches with the state".Prothom Alo.Retrieved2020-04-08.
  24. ^"Watch Out: Bangladeshi Minister Comments on His Published Photos with Fancy-looking Timepieces".BenarNews.Retrieved2020-04-08.
  25. ^"Tabith keeps his mouth shut on reportedly undisclosed company in Singapore".bdnews24.Retrieved2020-04-08.
  26. ^"Former SC Justice Manik demands cancellation of Tabith Awal's candidacy".Daily Sun.Retrieved2020-04-08.
  27. ^"HC rejects petition seeking cancellation of Tabith's candidacy".The Daily Star.2020-01-27.Retrieved2020-04-08.
  28. ^Defranoux, Laurence (2020-04-02)."Coronavirus: le Bangladesh censure les lanceurs d'alerte".Libération(in French).Retrieved2020-04-08.
  29. ^"Researcher in trouble for co-authoring Bangladesh Covid-19 projections".Netra News — নেত্র নিউজ.2020-03-22.Retrieved2020-04-08.
  30. ^"Brac University attempts to restrict access to Bangladesh Covid-19 report".Netra News — নেত্র নিউজ.2020-03-26.Retrieved2020-04-08.
  31. ^McLaughlin, Timothy (2020-04-02)."The Unseen Pandemic".The Atlantic.Retrieved2020-04-08.
  32. ^McLaughlin, Timothy."The Unseen Pandemic".The Atlantic.Retrieved2021-07-08.
  33. ^"Warning of 2 million Bangladesh virus deaths 'based on wrong assumption'".South China Morning Post.2020-04-01.Retrieved2021-07-08.
  34. ^"Two million could die, UN warns".The Australian.Retrieved2021-07-08.
  35. ^"Bangladesh: Freedom on the Net 2020 Country Report".Freedom House.Retrieved2021-07-08.
  36. ^"Taking Action Against Hackers in Bangladesh and Vietnam".About Facebook.2020-12-11.Retrieved2021-07-08.
  37. ^"Leaked documents: RAB abducted Ilias Ali".Netra News — নেত্র নিউজ.2022-04-21.Retrieved2023-03-17.
  38. ^"Crackdown on dissent deepens in Bangladesh".UCA News.Retrieved2021-07-08.
  39. ^"Bangladesh: Stop Intimidating Activists, Victims' Families".Human Rights Watch.2020-10-24.Retrieved2021-07-08.
  40. ^"Police press charges against cartoonist Kishore, 6 others in digital security case".Dhaka Tribune.2021-06-13.Retrieved2021-07-08.
  41. ^"Investigations from Nigeria, Venezuela, South Africa, and North Macedonia Win Global Shining Light Awards at GIJC23".GIJN.2023-09-21.Retrieved2024-07-21.
  42. ^"Press Award goes to DW documentary about death squad".DW.2024-10-05.Retrieved2024-07-21.
  43. ^"Ten outstanding data projects win the Sigma Awards 2024 competition".Sigma Awards.2024-03-22.Retrieved2024-07-21.
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