The country's ranking dropped to 151 out of 180 following the persistent violations of human rights, involving alleged prosecutions, arrests of journalists and restricting media industries to access certain information, including elections.
Bangladesh's press freedom ranking was primarily declined due to several other issues such as "violence by political activists", arbitrary blocking of news publishers, self-censorship, restricting some news media from attending government press conferences, arbitrary arrest and detention, physical attacks carried out against journalists by political activists, including by Awami League headed by Sheikh Hasina, 10th prime minister of Bangladesh in office since 2009.
[9][10] Bangladesh authorities blocked 54 news websites, including opposition party's web portal and Al Jazeera, a foreign broadcaster over security issues.
[13] In June 2020, the authorities detained a 15 years old child for sharing a "defamatory" Facebook posts which according to the government was an attempt to defame Sheikh Hasina.
[16] During the Sheikh Hasina regime, from 2018 to 2023, law enforcement agencies and Awami League men have harassed and assaulted the relatives of journalists on multiple occasions.
[18] In March 2023, Awami League's armed cadres, loyal to Sheikh Hasina beat the brother of Al-Jazeera I-Unit journalist Zulkarnain Saer Khan in front of his home in Dhaka.
"[19] Zulkarnain Saer Khan exposed the corruption of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the Al-Jazeera documentary All the Prime Minister's Men in 2022 and led an investigation against Sheikh Hasina's close aide Abdus Sobhan Golap's corruption who secretly bought nine properties of 4 million USD in New York City.
[24][25] A mob lead by ATM Akram Hossain Talim, Bangladesh Nationalist Party politician, vandalized Bagerhat Press Club.
[29] The office of the president and general secretary of the Jatiya Press Club was vandalized and forcefully occupied after Abdul Hannan Masud of quota movement demanded their resignation and banning Awami League supporting journalists from the profession.
[34] Moniruzzaman Monir, President of Raipura Upazila press club and correspondent of Desh Rupantar, was shot after being physically assaulted on 13 August.