Zulkarnain Saer Khan | |
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Occupation | journalist |
Zulkarnain Saer Khan is a U.K.-based exiled Bangladeshi journalist and a member of Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit . [1] He is a researcher at Organized Crime and Corruption Project Reporting (OCCRP). [2] He had risen to fame after working on and appearing in Al Jazeeras widely discussed 2021 documentary All the Prime Minister's Men . [3]
Khan is working with several prominent media organisations worldwide, including Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit (I-Unit), Netra News, Haaretz, and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), Bangla Outlook to produce comprehensive investigative reports on Bangladesh. [4]
In 2021, Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of police have pressed charges against Zulkarnain Saer Khan alias Sami and six others in a case filed under the Digital Security Act for "spreading rumours and carrying out anti-government activities". [5] Digital Security Act is alleged to be used in Bangladesh to crack down on political dissent and investigative journalist.
In March 2023, Khan's brother Mahinur Khan was beaten with iron rods by four unidentified men while out grocery shopping in the Shewrapara, a neighbourhood of Dhaka. [6] The US Embassy in Bangladesh and UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders urges thorough probe into alleged attack. [7]
In September 2024, Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit published a documentary on Former land minister of Bangladesh Saifuzzaman Chowdhury. Zulkarnain, the lead investigator of the documentary titled 'The Minister's Millions' said, Chowdhury has built a property empire worth at least $675 million, with plush properties in the UK, the US and the UAE. [8] Authorities in Bangladesh have frozen his bank accounts and are now investigating claims Chowdhury laundered millions of dollars into the UK. [9]
Rapid Action Battalion is an anti-crime and anti-terrorism unit of the Bangladesh Police. This elite force consists of members of the Bangladesh Army, Navy, Air Force, Police, Border Guard, and the Bangladesh Ansar. It was formed on 26 March 2004 as RAT, and commenced operations on 14 April 2004.
The Bangladesh genocide was the ethnic cleansing of Bengalis, especially Bengali Hindus, residing in East Pakistan during the Bangladesh Liberation War, perpetrated by the Pakistan Armed Forces and the Razakars. It began on 25 March 1971, as Operation Searchlight was launched by West Pakistan to militarily subdue the Bengali population of East Pakistan; the Bengalis comprised the demographic majority and had been calling for independence from the Pakistani state. Seeking to curtail the Bengali self-determination movement, erstwhile Pakistani president Yahya Khan approved a large-scale military deployment, and in the nine-month-long conflict that ensued, Pakistani soldiers and local pro-Pakistan militias killed between 300,000 and 3,000,000 Bengalis and raped between 200,000 and 400,000 Bengali women in a systematic campaign of mass murder and genocidal sexual violence. In their investigation of the genocide, the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists concluded that Pakistan's campaign involved the attempt to exterminate or forcibly remove a significant portion of the country's Hindu populace.
Fazlul Quader Chowdhury was a Bengali politician who served as the 5th speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan from East Pakistan. He belonged to Ayub Khan's Convention Muslim League. He was also the acting president of Pakistan from time to time when Ayub Khan left the country. His elder brother Fazlul Kabir Chowdhury was the leader of the opposition in East Pakistan assembly. Quader was preceded by Maulvi Tamizuddin Khan of Awami League.
Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin, is a British citizen convicted of war crimes committed during the Bangladesh War of Independence which involved the killing of intellectuals in collaboration with the Pakistan Army. After the liberation of Bangladesh, Chowdhury escaped from Bangladesh and attained British citizenship. Bangladesh has yet to file a request with the UK government to bring back Mueen, and the two countries do not have any extradition treaty signed between them.
The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) is a global network of investigative journalists with staff on six continents. It was founded in 2006 and specializes in organized crime and corruption.
Al Jazeera Arabic is a flagship news channel that primarily caters to an Arabic-speaking audience. Al Jazeera English, launched in 2006, is the English-language counterpart to Al Jazeera Arabic. According to Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera Arabic is editorially independent from Al Jazeera English, although it shares the same editorial vision. It is based in Doha and operated by the Al Jazeera Media Network.
Corruption in Bangladesh has been a continuing problem. According to all major ranking institutions, Bangladesh routinely finds itself among the most corrupt countries in the world.
Ashrafuz Zaman Khan is a Pakistani Bengali American who is one of the convicted masterminds of 1971 killing of Bengali intellectuals. In 1971, he was a member of the Central Committee of the Islami Chhatra Sangha. After liberation he went to Pakistan and worked for Radio Pakistan. Later, he moved to New York and presently heads the Queens branch of Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA). He was sentenced to death in absentia by the International War Crimes Tribunal for killing 18 Bengali intellectuals during the last days of the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh.
Hasan Mahmud is a politician from Bangladesh Awami League. He is a former minister of foreign affairs for the fifth Hasina ministry, and a former member of parliament from Chittagong-7. In 2019, he was appointed as the minister of information and broadcasting for the fourth Hasina ministry. Mahmud is accused as one of the perpetrators of the July massacre. He is currently wanted by Bangladesh Police for his alleged involvement in crimes against humanity during the Student–People's uprising of 2024.
Extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in Bangladesh refer to extrajudicial executions carried out by law enforcement agencies without due legal process and to abduction cases in which the government directly or indirectly kidnaps people and holds them incommunicado. From 2009 to 2023, at least 2,699 people were victims of extrajudicial killings in Bangladesh. During the period, 677 people were forcibly disappeared, and 1,048 people died in custody. From 2004 to 2006, at least 991 people were killed extrajudicially by "death squad" the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). The practice of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances primarily involves law enforcement agencies such as the RAB and the Detective Branch (DB) of the police.
Saifuzzaman Chowdhury Javed is a Bangladesh Awami League politician and a former Jatiya Sangsad member representing the Chittagong-12 and Chittagong-13 constituencies. He served as the Minister of Land at the Fourth Hasina ministry during 2019–2024.
Aziz Ahmed SBP (BAR) is a retired Bangladeshi four star general who was the Chief of Army Staff (CAS) of the Bangladesh Army from 25 June 2018 to 24 June 2021. He was succeeded by General SM Shafiuddin Ahmed on 24 June 2021.
Abdullahil Amaan Azmi is a former Bangladeshi Army officer and the son of Ghulam Azam, the former Ameer of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami. He was subjected to enforced disappearance in 2016 and was held captive in ‘Aynaghar’, a secret detention center operated by the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence. On August 6, 2024, he was released from ‘Aynaghar’ following the resignation of Sheikh Hasina.
Netra News is a Sweden-based investigative and public interest journalism platform 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.
Freedom of the press in Bangladesh refers to the censorship and endorsement on public opinions, fundamental rights, freedom of expression, human rights, explicitly mass media such as the print, broadcast and online media as described or mentioned in the constitution of Bangladesh. The country's press is legally regulated by the certain amendments, while the sovereignty, national integrity and sentiments are generally protected by the law of Bangladesh to maintain a hybrid legal system for independent journalism and to protect fundamental rights of the citizens in accordance with secularism and media law. In Bangladesh, media bias and disinformation is restricted under the certain constitutional amendments as described by the country's post-independence constitution.
All the Prime Minister's Men is a 2021 Qatari English-language investigative documentary on Bangladesh published by the international media Al Jazeera, alleging corruption against powerful political and military figures in Bangladesh. The documentary focuses on the past and present activities of the former Chief of Army Staff of the Bangladesh Army General Aziz Ahmed's family members and alleges various forms of corruption.
The following is a list of scheduled and expected events for the year 2024 in Bangladesh. 2024 (MMXXIV) is the current year, and is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2024th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 24th year of the 3rd millennium and the 21st century, and the 5th year of the 2020s decade.
Colonel Shahid Uddin Khan is a retired Bangladesh Army officer who was forced into exile following a business dispute with Tarique Ahmed Siddique, Defence and Security adviser to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina. He is living in the United Kingdom. He was sentenced to nine years imprisonment in a tax evasion case.
Tureen Afroz is a Bangladeshi lawyer and former senior prosecutor of the International Crimes Tribunal. She was removed from the tribunal after allegedly meeting accused war criminal Mohammad Wahidul Haque. She prosecuted cases against Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, Ghulam Azam, Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, Motiur Rahman Nizami, and Salauddin Quader Chowdhury.
Murder of Jamaluddin Ahmed Chowdhury refers to Jamaluddin Ahmed Chowdhury, a businessman, who was murdered after being kidnapped in Chittagong in 2003. His skeleton was recovered two years after the kidnapping. The Daily Star described it as sensational. Bangladesh Nationalist Party politician and former member of parliament of Chittagong-12, Sarwar Jamal Nizam, was accused of diverting the investigation to protect his brother who was an accused in the case.