Mahmudur Rahman is the acting editor of Bangladesh's pro-opposition newspaper Amar Dessh. On Sunday, as he was leaving a court hearing over a defamation case in the western town of Kushtia, Rahman was brutally attacked by student activists from the ruling Awami League party.

"It was a brutal attack. [They] hit the right side of his head with a brick," Rahman's colleague Mohammad Abdullah told the AFP news agency. Images of a bloodied Rahman went viral on social media after the attack.

International media observers condemned the attack on Rahman, who is a critic of Bangladesh's government and has been politically active in the past.

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"The lynching that targeted a prominent journalist like Mahmudur Rahman is likely to create a devastating chilling effect among those who dare to question the government and the ruling party," Daniel Bastard, head of Asia-Pacific desk at Reporters without Borders, said in a statement.

"Journalists must stand firm against this blatant case of intimidation," he said.

Michael Kugelman, a South Asia expert at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, said the attack pointed to a "rising climate of intolerance" in Bangladesh.

"Ultimately, the attack is a reminder that in Bangladesh, democracy is very much imperiled," he said.

No stranger to controversy

While international observers strongly condemned the attack on Rahman, there were mixed reactions among local analysts.

Fahmidul Haq, a professor of mass communication and journalism at Dhaka University, told DW that the attack had a political dimension.

"It is also an attack on the media industry. It's an attack on the freedom of the press," he said, adding that Rahman had been involved with controversy in the past.

"His newspaper's role in the 2013 Shahbag protest, one of the biggest movements in the country to demand maximum punishment for war criminals, was very negative and published fake news on numerous occasions," said Haq.

Read more: Bangladesh blogger: the wrath of a father demanding justice for his son's murder

Rahman's pro-opposition newspaper, Amar Desh, was shut down by the government in 2013 for inciting religious tension. It published numerous articles about bloggers who were critical of Islam, expressed atheist views and were involved in the Shahbag protests.

The protest was characterized as a movement against Islam by the newspaper, which triggered counter-protests by religious fundamentalists against the bloggers.

"Rahman was never a professional journalist. He was a politician who got himself appointed as the acting editor of a newspaper with a purpose other than journalism," said Syed Ashfaqul Haque, the executive editor of the Daily Star, Bangladesh's most popular English newspaper.

"I cannot help but mention that he once abused his media organization to propagate against bloggers and free-thinkers, leading to the killing of over a dozen youth."

Rahman was arrested in April 2013, and spent more than three years in jail in periods of solitary detention. He was released in November 2016. He faces around 80 charges, including sedition, torching of vehicles, involvement in a plot to kill the son of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, as well as inciting religious tension.

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Widespread problems for the media

The attack on Rahman is only one of a few recent incidents that have shocked Bangladeshi media.

In another recent event, Toufique Imrose Khalidi, the editor-in-chief of Bangladesh's most popular online newspaper - bdnews24.com, reported that attempts had been made to hack into his Facebook account.

Using sophisticated technology, a hacker reportedly tried to download data from Khalidi's Facebook activities. It is currently unclear if the hacker was successful.

Read more: US blogger's killing 'exposes level of political volatility' in Bangladesh

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Additionally, Khalidi's newspaper was blocked for a few hours on June 18 by Bangladesh's regulatory authority without any official reason.

Some of the newspaper's readers pointed out on social media that a report about Bangladesh's newly appointed military chief might have caused the brief website closure.

The report contained a paragraph about the younger brother of the military chief, who was a notorious criminal and had been released from jail by presidential clemency just a few weeks before his elder brother was appointed as the military chief.

The paragraph was removed and the newspaper was later unblocked.

A similar incident happened with The Daily Star newspaper. The daily's website was blocked for 22 hours on June 2 after it published a report about a municipal councilor in the southeastern city of Cox's Bazar who, according to the police, was a drug dealer and had been killed in a shootout. It was reported that the man was, in fact, a victim of an extrajudicial execution.

"There is a tendency in Bangladesh that the military and the Awami League doesn't tolerate any criticism from the media," said Daniel Bastard. "Obviously some people don't want journalists to investigate certain issues."

Fahmidul Haq has a similar perspective. "Difference of opinion is not welcomed by the rulers. In an authoritarian climate, every national institution is acting intolerantly towards free media," he said.

#FreedomOfSpeech across the world Shammi Haque, blogger, Bangladesh "People in Bangladesh can't say what's on their mind. There is no freedom of speech at all and every day the situation is getting worse. I'm a social activist and blogger and my topics include religion. Islamists don't like this. They already killed six bloggers - my friends - so I decided to leave the country. I want to return but I don't know when and if it will be safe."

#FreedomOfSpeech across the world Anonymous (for security reasons), Venezuela "Freedom of speech is a concept that doesn't exist in my country, it would be kryptonite to a dictatorship. Journalists try not to criticize the government to avoid fines and to protect their own lives. Journalists are persecuted if they are critical and many journalists have left the country. The government owns around 80 percent of the media so social media is the only voice we have now."

#FreedomOfSpeech across the world Amukelani Mayimele, youth activist, South Africa "There is a big debate about freedom of speech in South Africa right now. Freedom of speech still exists, but there is currently an intervention by our national broadcasting association. They are trying to enact new laws of what can and can't be covered."

#FreedomOfSpeech across the world Rachid Boukhenfer, journalist, Morocco "In the last decade there has been more space for freedom of speech in Morocco. It's not something we've simply received, many people had to fight for it. We still need to enlarge it but also make optimum use of the space we already have. In a country that is in the process of becoming democratic, we need to develop as we go, because there is always something standing in the way."

#FreedomOfSpeech across the world Binta Coudy Dé, entrepreneur, Senegal "People in Senegal are not so free to express themselves. If you're not in the political field you have to be careful with what you say. As an entrepreneur, you can't be critical of the government, otherwise you won't get any funding."

#FreedomOfSpeech across the world Roman Dobrokhotov and Ekaterina Kuznetsova, journalists, Russia Roman: "In Russia you're censored by the government at around one million readers. My website is smaller and is registered in Latvia so we can avoid censorship. The only attention we get from the government is occasional attacks on our server." Ekaterina: "Freedom of speech doesn't exist in Russia. In Europe, people are free to criticize politicians. I hope things will change in Russia."

#FreedomOfSpeech across the world Anonymous (for security reasons), journalist, Syria "Freedom of speech has not existed in Syria for ages. In fact, people can't express their opinion about the Assad regime without asking. It's forbidden. They would be killed. If I were to post something critical on social media, I would not be living for very long."

#FreedomOfSpeech across the world Ayesha Hasan, journalist, Pakistan "In Pakistan, 'freedom of press' are three very dangerous words. It might cost you your career or your life. They say, 'with great freedom comes great responsibility.' Well, we have freedom but no responsibility. I even have to watch what I am saying right now. I was almost kidnapped once when reporting, so we had to drop the story. But we have very brave journalists in Pakistan."

#FreedomOfSpeech across the world Mohammed Al-Azzani, development worker, Yemen "In my country, freedom of speech is like a bear locked inside a cage and it needs to be let out. One and a half months ago, a 17-year-old boy was killed because of a Facebook post."

#FreedomOfSpeech across the world Rabaa Ben Doukhan, radio journalist, Tunisia "The only result of our revolution is freedom of speech. We are free to criticize our government now. When I ask others in the region about freedom of speech in their home countries, the difference is huge. People in Tunisia do speak out. There are many difficulties like corruption in my country, but thankfully, freedom of speech is not one of them anymore."

#FreedomOfSpeech across the world Khushal Asefi, radio manager, Afghanistan "Freedom of speech is a 'soft gun' in Afghanistan. It's the voice of the people that the government is afraid of. It's challenging but we are at a better level than our neighbors."

#FreedomOfSpeech across the world Salim Salim, journalist, Palestine "There's not a lot of freedom in Palestine for journalists. A big problem is that journalists can't travel freely. They need to complete an application to go here but they can't because Gaza is under siege. Journalists are arrested by Israel and by the Palestinian Authority. If they write an opinion on Facebook, they're arrested by the government. But it's still better than in Syria or Iraq."

#FreedomOfSpeech across the world A.N. (full name not revealed for security reasons), TV journalist, Kenya "We enjoy quite a bit of freedom of speech in Kenya, but there are hefty fines for defamatory statements against the government. You can't air your opinion of a leader without your impartiality as a journalist being called into question - even if you think what they're doing is wrong. That's too bad."

#FreedomOfSpeech across the world Ananya Azad, blogger, Bangladesh "In my country there is no freedom of speech. You can't say anything about Islam or criticize the government. Islamic fundamentalists have declared that if anyone criticizes Islam, they'll be killed. I'm a journalist and I was threatened by Islamist terrorists myself last year. They declared that I will be their next target and uploaded my photo on a hitlist, so I had to flee my country."

#FreedomOfSpeech across the world Boureima Salouka, sustainable development consultant, Burkina Faso "In my country we are free but we fight for our freedom. We pushed out our dictator and now we are free to express ourselves. But you have to work for your freedom. Freedom is a constant struggle." Author: Anne-Sophie Brändlin, Carl Nasman



'Self-censorship' on the rise

According to rights group Reporters without Borders, media self-censorship is growing in Bangladesh as a result of the "endemic violence" against journalists and media outlets, and the "almost systematic impunity" enjoyed by those responsible.

Professor Haq sees a sharp rise of self-censorship in his country. "Most broadcast media are government-leaning and they self-censor their reports," he said.

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"Some newspapers are critical towards the government, but they are also under pressure. Even for them, self-censorship is applicable," added Faq.

According to a report by the British NGO Article 19, one journalist was killed, 28 suffered severe injuries and a further 75 suffered severe assaults last year.

Experts fear that the situation could get worse as Bangladesh's national election is scheduled to take place later this year.

"It appears that Bangladesh may be taking a tactic out of Pakistan's book and is trying to control media narratives in the lead-up to the key national elections," said Michael Kugelman.

"In Bangladesh, as in so many other countries, some brave dissidents continue to speak out even as the walls start to close in around them," he said, adding that if these attacks are a new precedent, then it could have a "chilling effect" with implications for local media's coverage of the election.