Nazmul Ahasan is a journalist with experience in investigative journalism, long-form narrative and opinion writing. While studying journalism at UC Berkeley, he works with the Investigative Reporting Program (IRP), where he is helping to create a database of police use-of-force incidents across California.
His most recent pieces appeared in San Francisco Chronicle and Foreign Policy magazine.
Before moving to San Francisco Bay Area, Ahasan widely covered Bangladesh, his home country, for The Economist, The Telegraph, Haaretz and Devex, among others.
In his previous life, Ahasan worked at The Daily Star, Bangladesh’s largest English-language newspaper, where his weekly column chronicled the country’s gradual descent into authoritarianism.
Blog
#QuickTake: Why has the GoB decided to release Khaleda Zia now?
In a hastily arranged press conference, the law minister Anisul Huq today told reporters that the government has decided to postpone for six months the jail sentence of Khaleda Zia, the former prime minister and leader of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). To be clear, BNP has long sought the release of its leaders,
Did the Thomas Cook collapse defy typical left-right politics?
Thomas Cook, the iconic British travel company, has recently collapsed after 176 years of operations, having failed to secure a £150m bailout from the government. The incident has forced the government to initiate the largest peacetime evacuation in British history, aimed at bringing more than 150,000 British tourists home. The severe disruption aside, the collapse
Blocking Legitimate Websites—and Bragging About It—Is Shameful
Today at a summit organized by a ruling party wing, the post and telecommunications minister boasted the government’s ability to “control” any websites, Prothom Alo reported, clearly referring to its recently acquired power to block websites on a whim. “The state has attained the capabilities to regulate any websites,” Mustafa Jabbar was quoted by the
Public Safety Issues Will Dominate Public Discourse in Bangladesh
In what was probably the culmination of years of pent-up anger over public safety (or, the lack thereof), a widespread public protest led by students brought Bangladesh to a standstill last year. Following the tragic death of two students by racing buses, hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren took to the streets over road safety. The
Extrajudicial Executions In the Guise of Vigilante Justice
On January 17, 2019, police in Khagan, Savar recovered the bullet-hit body of a man who was later identified as Ripon. Ripon, a line chief at a local garment factory, was the prime accused in a gang-rape case involving a female worker from his factory. There was a note attached around his neck, which read:
The Mahmudur Rahman Conundrum
Anyone with a shred of decency would find the attack on Mahmudur Rahman difficult to defend. According to media reports, the perpetrators belong to the ruling party student wing, Chhatra League. Clearly, he was targeted simply because the former acting editor of Amar Desh newspaper is an outspoken opposition firebrand. At the time of the