Fund Raising Update

10/31/2001

Message from Tipu Sultan

Dear Friends,
How are you?This is my great pleasure that you came forward for me and for the website fund organized by Asif Saleh.I am equally greatful to the readers and donors of
the daily Prothom Alo,Daily Star and as well as to my website friends . After completing the 1'st phase of treatment from 5'th may to last of August in Bangkok. I returned to Bangladesh on September 1.
For follow up treatment I am now again in Bangkok on 29'th october.
I remember everyone , who helped me in various way in the country and in abroad.

May god bless every one of them.

Thanking every body,

Tipu Sultan.





10/1/2001

Tipu has Returned home. Both his hands have recovered almost fully. He will need another surgery in a year.
He is extremely grateful to everybody from his heart for helping him out in this crisis. He will soon send a formal note to everybody on this.


Tipu to undergo another operation today
5/22/01
Staff Correspondent

Journalist Tipu Sultan, severely injured by terrorists in Feni, will undergo another operation on his right hand at the Bumrungrad Hospital in Bangkok this morning.
On May 15, both of his hands were operated upon. But as the condition of his right wrist still remains critical, a medical board at a meeting yesterday decided to operate upon his right hand again.
Doctors said they would be able to confirm after operation whether Tipu's right hand would function properly. Tipu left Dhaka for Bangkok on May 8. Earlier, he was treated at the Orthopaedic Hospital in Dhaka.
The musclemen of ruling party MP Zainal Hazari abducted Tipu on the evening of January 25 from Feni Sadar and beat him up savagely. The terrorists left the spot presuming him dead



Tipu undergoes Surgery
5/16/01

Surgeons at the Bumrungrad Hospital in Bangkok performed a seven-hour operation on journalist Tipu Sultan yesterday, according to a message received in Dhaka.
Hospital sources said the operation was successful and normal functioning of left hand of the injured journalist is likely to be restored.

Tipu might also need more surgical operations. He needs prolonged physiotherapy.

Musclemen of ruling party MP in Feni Joinal Hazari had abducted Tipu, Feni correspondent of UNB, on January 25 and brutally assaulted him causing multiple bone fractures. He was under treatment the Pangu Hospital in the city before he was flown to Bangkok on May 8.

As Tipu was facing disability due to lack of funds for required treatment abroad, The Daily Star and the Prothom Alo launched a fund raising campaign. People from all walks of life both at home and abroad donated to the fund.



Feature: Journalists targeted in Bangladesh
By INAM AHMED

DHAKA, Bangladesh, May 1 (UPI) -- Tipu Sultan silently lies on a dilapidated hospital bed. He cannot move his limbs. Sometimes, he grimaces in pain, which flows like a wave from his toes to his head. When he feels slightly better, Tipu looks out of the window, at the blue summer sky as his
plastered legs and hands twitch.

He is not a victim of accident, but a victim of violence against journalists -- the most heinous one in recent times in Bangladesh, a South Asian country that has witnessed 10 years of uninterrupted democracy in its 30-year history.

Tipu's crime was exposing the criminal activities of a member of Parliament from the ruling party, who is widely thought to be a godfather of organized underworld gangs.

Tipu represents the kind of threat Bangladesh's media today face. Organized crime syndicates have passed a simple message -- stop writing against us, or publish at your peril.

"Has the money been managed?" is the first question Tipu would ask of anyone visiting him. Doctors have said he urgently needs surgery if is ever to stand on his feet, or even survive. Such complicated operations cannot be
done in Bangladesh, which has poor healthcare facilities. Treatment in a foreign country would cost at least $50,000, and for Tipu, whose monthly salary was hardly above $ 100 a month, it is beyond his reach to manage the money.

Beads of sweat show on Tipu's face as he recalls how he was mercilessly beaten up by goons belong to a self-proclaimed lord of the Bangladesh town of Feni, Joynal Hazari. Hazari, also a member of Parliament from the ruling
party, reportedly runs a 500-strong armed gang like the Wild West movies and virtually controls every business establishment of the town.

It is said that anyone who dares to challenge Hazari, either silently disappears or ends up in a hospital bed, much in the fashion of Tipu.

But Tipu, a correspondent with the private news agency United News of Bangladesh, was one of those fools who tried to expose Hazari's reputed mafia operation and wrote investigative stories on how Hazari's men grab
land and property, how he controls illegal moonshine and smuggling chains, how his people destroy business establishments that do not pay protection
money, how he crushes his political opponents and how police and the administration remain silent spectators to the "don's" activities -- and even help him in his business affairs.

"I was given warnings not to write against Hazari," Tipu says. "But I am fool enough to disregard his words and am paying for it."

"On Jan. 25 this year, I was going to a relative's house," continues Tipu. "It was just after evening and I was walking by a petrol pump. Suddenly, a van pulled up besides me and eight people jumped out. They pushed me inside
the car and drove away."

Tipu was taken to a nearby building. The goons then did an almost perfect job. For about 20 minutes, they beat him up with hockey sticks and iron rods, methodically smashing each and every bone of his limbs.

"I knew there's no point begging mercy from them," says Tipu. "They were all known to me as Hazari's hitmen. As they hit me, they kept saying, 'Would
you write against Hazari again?'"

Tipu takes a break and looks at his right hand, the only limb that escaped any major damage.

"I had only one thing in mind -- I have to save my head and right hand, the one with which I write. I rolled up like a cocoon and covered my head with my left hand, tucked my right hand under the belly and silently
received the blows."

After 20 minutes of beating, Tipu lost consciousness. The hitmen thought him dead and left the place. Hours later, Tipu found himself in a hospital.

The story did not end here. The same hitmen visited the hospital and asked doctors not to treat Tipu. In fear of his life and for better treatment, he was shifted to an orthopedic hospital in the capital Dhaka. Doctors found
that his both legs were broken in several places, the knees disjointed, muscles permanently damaged and hands dislocated and broken at several points.

The doctors have performed operations on him, but could not do much. He has now been advised to go to Thailand for advanced treatment.

Since he needed money for treatment, two newspapers -- The Daily Star and the vernacular Prothom Alo -- formed a fund and invited donations from the public. The response has been amazing. In less than 20 days, $25,000, almost
half the treatment cost, has been raised.

From his hospital bed, Tipu tried to file a case against Hazari. But police refused to take it. As the media raised a hell about it, police said "there is no question of Hazari's involvement in the act of violence."

As journalists pressed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to ax Hazari from her party, she ignored the plea and gave tacit support to her "strategic man."

Condoning such violence on journalists has left Bangladeshi newsmen vulnerable to terrorists. In the last 15 days, at least 10 journalists have been assaulted by goons. A district correspondent of a leading Bangla daily
had his left leg amputed after being shot by terrorists.

Journalists in the country's second-largest city, Chittagong, are now observing a hunger strike and demanding arrest of ruling-party-backed militants. The person in question ransacked a newspaper office and assaulted
its journalists last week.

Months ago, a senior journalist was shot dead at a border town, Jessore, for exposing a smuggling ring. Another journalist from the same place is now
dead after writing about communist hardliners. These are only a few of the examples.

As working has become unsafe for Bangladesh's journalists, leaders of the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists met with the home minister on April 30 and demanded safety for newsmen. The home minister promised little.

"The government is very much concerned about their problems" was all he could say for Bangladeshi media.

Meanwhile, Tipu Sultan awaits an uncertain future on a hospital bed and with him, Bangladesh's media faces a completely new threat to press freedom,
not from the government machinery, but from organized militant criminals.


--
Copyright 2001 by United Press International.
All rights reserved.

Latest News Report on Tipu

Tipu off to Bangkok
5/9/01

STAFF CORRESPONDENT

Tipu Sultan spends a few moments with his mother prior to boarding a
Bangkok-bound flight yesterday.

Journalist Tipu Sultan left Dhaka for Bangkok yesterday for treatment at the
Bumrungrad Hospital. A good number of well-wishers, including Editor of
Prothom Alo, Matiur Rahman and Managing Editor of The Daily Star Syed
Fahim Munaim were at the airport to see him off. A relative, who would be
present throughout the treatment period, accompanied Tipu on the Thai Airways
flight to Bangkok. A group of people from Tipu's home town Feni also came to
the airport to wish him well.

A team of specialised doctors from the Bumrungrad Hospital will receive the
injured journalist at Bangkok airport. The hospital authorities have offered Tipu a
three-night stay and initial medical assessment free of cost.

The cost of Tipu's treatment at Bangkok would come from The Daily
Star-Prothom Alo fund, which was launched on April 8. People from all walks of
life, both home and abroad, donated to the fund for saving Tipu from becoming
handicapped.

Ruling party MP Zainal Hazari and his henchmen abducted Tipu in the evening
of January 25 from Feni sadar and savagely beat him up. The assailants left
Tipu for dead. Tipu had undergone treatment for horrendous injuries at Pangu
Hospital in the city where the doctors recommended that he be treated abroad.

The attackers still roam freely in Feni where the police are yet to lodge a case.

Tipu to be flown to Bangkok today for treatment
Daily Star, 5/8/01


Journalist Tipu Sultan will be flown to Bangkok today for treatment at the Bamrungrad Hospital.

Tipu will be accompanied by a relative, who would stay with him during the duration of the treatment. The Bamrungrad Hospital authorities have offered Tipu a three-night stay at the hospital and an initial medical assessment by a team of specialists free of cost as a gesture of goodwill.


The cost of treatment would come from the Daily Star-Prothom Alo fund, which was launched on April 8. People from all walks of life, both home and abroad, came forward to contributing to the fund for saving the UNB correspondent from becoming handicapped.



Ruling Awami League MP in Feni Zainal Hazari and his henchmen picked up Tipu Sultan in the evening of January 25, savagely beat him up and left him for dead.


Tipu had reported on the criminal and inhuman activities of the local politician and his nearly 500-men strong army.

Feni police refused to accept a case against the criminals at first. Later, the police initiated an investigation following a High Court order. All accused in the case are roaming freely, however.

Until recently, Tipu was undergoing treatment at Pangu Hospital. Doctors there had recommended that Tipu be treated abroad because there was nothing else that could be done for him here.


When contacted last night, Tipu expressed his gratitude to all who contributed towards his treatment. He said that the response of the people was a silent protest against all kinds of terrorism in the country.

Journalists at Risk in Bangladesh - AP Reports 4/30/01

By DILIP GANGULY,

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) - After the blows to the stomach and groin, a
butcher's knife was raised over Tipu Sultan's head and his burly assailant
shouted, ``Which is your writing hand?''

Moments later the 27-year-old journalist's right arm was slashed in four
places. He was beaten with baseball bats, hockey sticks and iron rods, and
his body was cut in 10 places.

The Jan. 25 incident is part of a pattern of attacks on journalists that
brings a new twist to the violence and political unrest that have troubled
Bangladesh since it won independence from Pakistan 30 years ago.

Two of Bangladesh's presidents have been assassinated, and there have been
three coups and 19 failed ones. Newspapers carry daily reports of gang
killings and political assassinations of lower ranking leaders, with
gruesome photos of slashed necks or hands.

But as World Press Freedom Day approaches May 3, the journalists of
Bangladesh's 134 daily newspapers, 700 weeklies and 1,000 monthly magazines
have never felt so besieged.

``In the past six months, journalists reporting about corruption, political
violence and religious intolerance have been victims of unbelievably violent
attacks,'' said Robert Menard, general secretary of Paris-based Reporters
Without Frontiers.

Journalists' groups at home and abroad have recorded 50 cases of violence
against media professionals, including three murders during the past six
months.

Around the world, at least 16 journalists were murdered doing their jobs
last year and 20 other slayings of news people are being studied to
determine if their work was a factor, the Committee to Protect Journalists
reported in mid-March.

Sultan, son of a retired railroad officer, is still in the Orthopedic
Hospital in Dhaka, the capital, three months after he was assaulted in Feni,
a coconut-growing region 80 miles east of here. He has 12 fractures,
including crushed bones in his hands.

He believes he was attacked because he wrote critically about a governing
party's lawmaker for United News of Bangladesh, an independent news agency.

Police have made no arrests.

On April 17, Prabir Sikdar, who wrote a column about collaborators who sided
with Pakistan during the 1971 independence war, was shot 14 times as he rode
his motorbike to cover a story in Faridpur, 40 miles southwest of Dhaka. His
right leg had to be amputated.

Sikdar, 39, had written in the Janakantha newspaper that a top Bangladesh
arms dealer allegedly had links to a collaborator.

``They came and shot me several times, and then when I fell from my
motorcycle they beat me up with iron bars. They were especially hitting my
legs,'' Sikdar said.

``I wrote several reports on people who committed war crimes and now have
become influential members of society. Maybe I am paying a price for that,''
Sikdar said.

Last July, Janakantha journalist Shamsur Rahman was shot to death by gunmen
in his office, and last week Nahar Ali of the daily Anirban died of brain
injuries. According to police and his family, Ali was kidnapped and found
unconscious two days later, near his village, severely beaten and tortured,
his legs and arms broken. Days earlier he had written critically of a small
left-wing group.

``Some politicians in the government as well as opposition in Bangladesh
believe that bribery is a solution to a problem,'' said Akhtar Ahmed Khan,
secretary general of the 1,860-member Bangladesh Federation of Unions of
Journalists. ``When they can't bribe a journalist, they go for the next
step, which is violence.''