Sumi Khan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sumi Khan | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 1970 (age 55) |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Years active | 2000–present |
| Awards | Courage in Journalism Award (2005) |
Sumi Khan (born June 1969) is a Bangladeshi investigative journalist known for her reporting on radical extremism, minority persecution, and political affairs in Bangladesh.[1][2][3] In 2005, she received the Courage in Journalism Award from the International Women’s Media Foundation.[4] Khan is currently in exile in the United States.[5][4]
Khan was born in June 1970 in Bangladesh.[4] Her father was a member of the Mukti Bahini who was tortured to death by Al-Badr, an auxiliary force of the Pakistan Army during the Bangladesh Liberation War.[4] Her mother was an activist.[4]
Career
Khan started her journalism career in 1993.[1] She joined the Daily Jugantor in 1999.[1] She was fired from the newspaper after reporting on a well connected oil executive raping his maid.[1] After that she joined the Shaptahik 2000 (Weekly 2000).[1] In 2002, she was detained by Bangladesh Police and questioned on her reporting of religious extremism.[1]
In April 2004, Khan was attacked in Chittagong by three men leaving her with stab wounds over her articles on ties between politicians and attacks by religious extremists on minorities.[1][6][4] That year the Committee to Protect Journalists called Bangladesh the most dangerous Asian country for journalists.[1] She interviewed Syed Haider Farooq Maududi, son of Jamaat-e-Islami founder Abul A'la Maududi, and Marina Mahathir, a Malaysian activist to under Islamist ideologies in Asia.[4] In 2005, Khan was awarded the Courage in Journalism Award by the International Women’s Media Foundation.[4] Khan won The Guardian Foundation's Hugo Young award.[7]
Khan was serving as the Women’s Affairs Secretary of the Dhaka Union of Journalists when the Sheikh Hasina government fell on 5 August 2024.[8] She was forced into exile in February 2025 due to increasing threats from radical Islamist groups.[4] Previously, she had also faced intimidation from the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, which she alleges has significant influence over the Muhammad Yunus led interim government and media in Bangladesh.[4] She has criticized arrest of journalists Shyamal Dutta and Mozammel Haque Babu, as well as the revocation of press accreditations for over 160 journalists by the new regime.[4] She alleges that the government has empowered the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami to take control of the media in Bangladesh.[4]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Sumi Khan - IWMF". www.iwmf.org. Retrieved 2025-04-03.
- ↑ "Sumi Khan | Al Jazeera News | Today's latest from Al Jazeera". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 2025-04-03.
- ↑ "Stabbed, beaten, nearly blinded - her weapon is a pen". Manchester Evening News. 2013-01-12. Retrieved 2025-04-03.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Halder, Deep (2025-03-30). "Bangladeshi journalist Sumi Khan says Yunus govt killed free press. So she's in exile in US". ThePrint. Retrieved 2025-04-03.
- ↑ Indiablooms (2025-03-31). "Yunus government has systematically stifled free press in Bangladesh: Exiled Journalist Sumi Khan | Indiablooms - First Portal on Digital News Management". India Blooms. Retrieved 2025-04-03.
- ↑ "Fear of safety/human rights defender at risk" (PDF). Amnesty International. 4 May 2004. Retrieved 2 April 2025.
- ↑ "Sumi Khan | WISE Muslim Women Sumi Khan". WISE Muslim Women. 2009-11-12. Retrieved 2025-04-03.
- ↑ Halder, Deep (2025-03-30). "Bangladeshi journalist Sumi Khan says Yunus govt killed free press. So she's in exile in US". ThePrint. Retrieved 2025-04-03.