Journalist Mehedi Al Amin, a 2025 Marianne Human Rights Defenders prize winner, was assaulted in Munshiganj while filming an arbitration on illegal manpower trafficking. He filed a police complaint; investigation is underway.
Mehedi Al Amin was physically assaulted on Friday evening while documenting a local arbitration connected to illegal manpower trafficking at Sholghor bus stand in Srinagar upazila, Munshiganj.
Following the incident, Mehedi filed a formal complaint at Srinagar Police Station on Saturday.
According to Mehedi and fellow journalists, the arbitration was convened to resolve disputes involving a syndicate accused of taking money from locals under false promises of overseas employment in the Middle East. Believing the case to be tied to international human trafficking, Mehedi began recording video during a pause in the proceedings.
“As soon as I started filming the escalating situation, they attacked me,” he said, adding that the assailants shouted: “You are a journalist, why are you filming?”
Local sources named one of the attackers as Akalu Babu, a resident of Khaiyagao village in Sholghor union.
Arif Hossain Tipu, president of the Srinagar Upazila Press Club, told The Climate Watch: “This group had failed to send people abroad after taking large sums of money and the arbitration was over returning the victims’ money. When Mehedi began filming, they attacked him. The assailants were linked to Juba Dal, (youth wing of Bangladesh Nationalist Party).”
Officer-in-charge Nazmul Huda Khan of Srinagar Police Station confirmed receiving the complaint. “We have taken the allegation seriously. Action will be taken promptly, and an investigation is underway,” he said.
Based in Dhaka, Mehedi Al Amin is a senior reporter at The Daily Protidiner Bangladesh, focusing primarily on environment and climate change reporting. He has worked with several leading newspapers, including The Business Standard, The Dhaka Tribune and The Daily Bonik Barta. He also serves as Training Secretary of the Bangladesh Agricultural Journalists Forum and Organizing Secretary of the Munshiganj Bikrampur Journalists Forum.
