Nuruzzaman Labu
Nuruzzaman Labu is a Dhaka-based journalist and human rights defender with over a decade of experience, specialising in crime reporting with a strong focus on terrorism, human trafficking, and human rights. He is currently a Special Correspondent at the Bangla Tribune, one of Bangladesh’s leading news portals. His most notable work includes the 2017 book 'Holy Artisan: A Journalistic Investigation', the only comprehensive journalistic inquiry into the 2016 terrorist attack at the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka.
Human rights defenders in Bangladesh face judicial harassment, arbitrary arrest, fabricated charges, abduction, physical attacks, torture and extrajudicial killings. Local extremist groups pledging allegiance to Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent often claimed responsibility for the attacks, which have targeted HRDs who write about women’s rights, indigenous peoples’ rights, freedom of religion, and other human rights issues. Despite these risks, there was no impetus on the part of the government to address the protection needs of HRDs. The authorities have so far failed to properly investigate a majority of the murders and impunity remains a serious concern.
