Bangladeshi Journalist’s Body Found In Dhaka Lake, Ex-PM Hasina’s Son Says Her Death ‘Brutal

The body of a 32-year-old Bangladeshi TV journalist, identified as Sarah Rahanuma, was fished out of the capital’s Hatirjheel Lake on Monday, local media outlets there reported. Following the recovery of her dead body from the capital, ousted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s son said the death of the scribe was “another brutal attack” on the freedom of expression in the country.

According to a report by the Dhaka Tribune, Rahanuma’s body was seen floating in the lake. She was working as a newsroom editor and an anchor at Gazi TV.

“Rahmuna Sara Gazi, TV newsroom editor, was found dead. Her body was recovered from Hatirjheel Lake in Dhaka city. This is another brutal attack on freedom of expression in Bangladesh. Gazi TV is a secular news channel owned by Golam Dastagir Gazi who was arrested recently,” Wazed said in a post on social media site X.

“I saw the (dead) woman floating in Hatirjheel Lake. Then she was brought to DMCH, where doctors declared her dead,” the man who brought the lifeless body of the journalist to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), said.

Rahanuma shared a Facebook post prior to her death, tagging one Fahim Faysal, where she said: “It was nice having a friend like you. God bless you always. Hope, you’ll fulfil all your dreams soon. I know we had a lot of planning together. Sorry, I can’t fulfil our plans. May god bless you in every aspect of your life”.

“It is better to die than to live a life akin to death,” she had said.

The Hatirjheel police station took the incident report and the journalist’s body has been kept in the DMCH morgue, inspector Bachchu Mia, in charge of the hospital’s outpost, told Bangladeshi news outlets.