Abdul Hakim Shimul
Abdul Hakim Shimul was a journalist and human rights defender affiliated with Odhikar, a human rights organisation that carries out advocacy on the human rights situation in the country, provides training for human rights defenders and conducts fact-finding missions in rural areas of Bangladesh. Abdul Hakim Shimul had actively taken part in Odhikar’s trainings and fact finding missions. He was also the Shahzadpur correspondent for Bangla daily 'Dainik Samakal' and reported on issues such as corruption and misuse of power by the local elites.
Police and armed gangs have assaulted dozens of journalists in recent years. In 2012 alone, three journalists were murdered and 19 were physically attacked. Female journalists have been particularly vulnerable: many of them have been sexually harassed and assaulted, including at the workplace. In the vast majority of cases, these violations went unpunished. In the first eight months of 2015, four bloggers were killed. One of the victims had previously expressed fear of an attack, and said his reports of threats were ignored by police.
