Dhaka Stream files GD after cyberattack threat over extremist books report
Dhaka Stream has filed a general diary after receiving a cyberattack threat over its investigation into books by Al Qaeda and Islamic State figures being sold at an Islamic Foundation book fair. The threat came after the outlet was already targeted in a cyberattack earlier this year, adding the incident to a wider problem of digital attacks and pressure faced by news organisations in Bangladesh.
Reading
In a Nutshell:
- Dhaka Stream received an abusive email on September 21, one day after publishing its investigation into extremist books sold at the Islamic Foundation book fair.
- The sender demanded that the report be removed and an apology issued within 12 hours, threatening a cyberattack otherwise.
- The outlet filed GD No 1458 with Kalabagan Police Station on September 22, seeking protection for its employees, website and social media accounts.
- The investigation found books by Al Qaeda figures including Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri at stalls operated by at least 10 publishers at the fair.
- Similar books were found at Banglabazar shops and online bookstores, while some publishers named in the report had previously faced allegations of links to extremist activity.
Context
The Islamic Foundation fair began on September 12 and is being held on the east premises of Baitul Mukarram National Mosque. The foundation’s director general told Dhaka Stream he was unaware that Al Qaeda linked books were being sold and said action would be taken if such books were identified. This is not Dhaka Stream’s first cyber incident this year. On February 7, hackers obtained super administrator access to its Meta Business Suite and partially took control of Facebook pages belonging to Dhaka Stream, Bangla Stream, Stream Pick, Pop Stream and Dhaka Stream News. The organisation filed another GD with Kalabagan Police Station. Cyber attacks are also a recurring problem for newsrooms more broadly, while journalists continue to face threats and other forms of pressure. TIB recorded 1,073 journalists and media workers affected by attacks, threats, lawsuits, harassment, detention and other incidents in 476 cases between August 2024 and November 2025.
Why it matters
The cyberattack threat was carried out after a demand from the anonymous sender that Dhaka Stream’s report be removed. In a media environment that is already vulnerable to cyberattacks, this is a way of limiting editorial independence by restricting access to the outlet’s digital infrastructure. Dhaka Stream has already had its social media infrastructure compromised before in February. And, yet, the outlet had to file another GD after this incident to ask police to protect the same digital channels that were targeted before. Nutshell Today has likewise faced repeated cyberattacks for covering sensitive subjects.
What we think
A newsroom can withstand a demand to remove a story only if it can keep control of the platforms through which that story reaches readers, so repeated attacks turn cyber security into a basic condition of independent journalism rather than a purely technical concern. The other part of this case should not get lost either. Dhaka Stream’s report concerned extremist literature being sold at a fair run by a government institution, and the foundation said it had not known about the books. Police now have both the threatening communication and the earlier hacking incident to examine. Identifying whether the latest threat is connected to the book report, the publishers named in it, or the earlier cyberattack would establish whether this is an isolated threat or part of a continuing pattern.