Newsroom in Exile

It was a dangerous time to be a journalist in Bangladesh. Between 2001 and 2006, 13 journalists were killed and hundreds faced threats, intimidation, harassment and torture from law enforcement agencies.

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In 2007—at a time when an interim government supported by the military took over—journalist Tasneem Khalil had crossed a ‘redline’. The journalist with The Daily Star had published several reports critical of the military and the police, which not many Bangladeshi journalists wrote about.

On May 10, 2007, he was picked up from his home, blindfolded and reportedly taken to an army camp, where he was tortured. In the following days, Khalil fled Bangladesh and took refuge in Sweden. Over the following decade, Bangladesh’s Press Freedom Index continued on a downward trend. The Digital Security Act (DSA) introduced in 2018—an updated version of the 2006 Information Technology Act—became the most stringent draconian law to muzzle the press. Journalists critical of the ruling Awami League government were brought under DSA charges. A study by the Centre for Governance Studies (CGS) found that 280 journalists were accused of violations, 84 of whom were detained, between October 2018 and August 2022. Against this backdrop, Khalil, while still in exile, set up the Netra News, an independent public interest journalism outlet in Sweden. Netra News’ investigative reportage exposing corruption in the ruling government and abuse of security agencies is a rare feat of journalism.

Outlook’s Senior Editor Shweta Desai spoke to Khalil on running an online news platform from Sweden, tracking political instability and protests in Bangladesh.

How did Netra News start?

When I arrived in Sweden, I was not doing journalism. I worked with think tanks on human rights and pursued academics. In 2018, I saw news videos of protests by young Bangladeshi school students for road safety.