The Press Emblem Campaign (PEC), an international organisation advocating for media safety and press freedom, has expressed shock over the brutal killing of Bangladeshi journalist Md Asaduzzaman Tuhin in the country's capital region.

The group has called on the interim government in Dhaka to swiftly apprehend those responsible.

Tuhin, 40, who worked with the Mymensingh-based Bengali daily Dainik Pratidiner Kagoj, was attacked on August 7, 2025, evening in Gazipur’s Chandana Chowrasta market area.

According to reports, the journalist was seated at a tea stall when several assailants set upon him with sharp weapons, leaving him fatally wounded. He died at the scene

Police later recovered his body and sent it for post-mortem examination.

Sources said Tuhin had been filming activities in the market, where extortionists were allegedly demanding money from vendors and arguing among themselves.

When ordered to stop recording, he reportedly refused—prompting the fatal assault.

"It is deeply tragic that a journalist lost his life for exposing extortionists in a crowded part of the capital," said PEC president Blaise Lempen.

"Just weeks earlier, on June 25, 2025, journalist Khandaker Shah Alam was killed in Nabinagar, Dhaka, reportedly by a former prisoner who had been jailed due to Alam’s reporting in Dainik Matrijagat. With national elections due by mid-February next year, authorities must ensure the safety of media workers nationwide. The interim government, led by Dr Muhammad Yunus, has pledged a more supportive environment for the press than under former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. That promise must be reflected in reality," Lampen added.

Lempen stressed that the perpetrators of both killings must be brought to justice without delay.

PEC’s South and Southeast Asia representative Nava Thakuria reported that, a day before Tuhin’s murder, another Dhaka-based journalist, Anwar Hossain Sourav of Dainik Bangladesher Alo, was assaulted in Gazipur’s Sahapara area. Sourav is currently receiving hospital treatment.

Tuhin is the second journalist killed in Bangladesh since the beginning of 2025 and the 95th media casualty worldwide this year.

Recent weeks have also seen the murder of radio journalist Erwin Labitad Segovia in the Philippines. In the first half of 2025, India lost five journalists—Mukesh Chandrakar, Raghavendra Vajpayee, Sahadev Dey, Dharmendra Singh Chauhan and Chintakayalu Naresh Kumar—to targeted attacks.

Pakistan recorded the killings of Allah Dino Shar, Abdul Latif Baloch and Syed Mohammed Shah, while Nepal reported the murder of Suresh Rajak during the same period.

ALSO READ | Tragic Death Of Fearless Journalist Mukesh Chandrakar Shocks Chhattisgarh