Nadia Sharmeen

Nadia Sharmeen (Bengali: নাদিয়া শারমীন) is a crime reporter from Bangladesh, who writes news stories about crime.  In 2015, Sharmeen received the US State Department's International Women of Courage Award.https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/03/05/state-department-honors-international-women-of-courage

In 2014, the global campaign One Billion Rising for Justice used her story to persuade the Bangladeshi government to accept the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).  

 Life 

From the time she was in Middle School, Nadia Sharmeen wanted to become a journalist. In 2009, she joined the Bangladesh group of news reporters and became a crime reporter.

 Work 

In 2013 Sharmeen went to a fundamentalist Islamic rally to report about it for Ekushey Television.  At the rally, Hefazat-e-Islam activists attacked Sharmeen.  The reason for the rally was to demand laws to limit or control the mixing of men and women in the same space, punish atheists, require women to wear headscarves, and other religion-based rules.  The Hefazat had a list with 13 demands.  They wanted the government to stop supporting the current Women's Policy, which was planned to create gender equality.

Journalists were attacked and tortured in many places in Dhaka and Chittagong. Women garbage collectors were also attacked. Sharmeen's attackers targeted women who did not wear the hijab, or religious head scarf. Nadia said they attacked her, “only because I am a woman”. Fifty or sixty men attacked Sharmeen.  They chased Sharmeen and hit her with water bottles and pieces of brick. When Sharmeen fell, other men punched and beat her. Several male reporters and cameramen tried to save Sharmeen.  Then they became targets of the mob.
They took Sharmeen to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital for emergency care.  When she was better, they moved her to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital. Within days, a report was filed with the police. 

By July, 2013, there were still no arrests, so the Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh organization asked the Supreme Court of Bangladesh to help Sharmeen. The court called for arrest of the men who attacked Sharmeen, and said the government was responsible to pay for her medical care. Nearly two years after the attack, no one was identified, and no one was arrested.  After Sharmeen got better, she went back to work as a crime reporter for a different news agency, Ekattor TV]. After the attack on Sharmeen, women's rights activists staged several rallies, with the support of various press clubs, the Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association (BNWLA) and other organizations.

 Other websites 

 2015 International Women of Courage Awards, U.S. State Department photostream on Flickr 
 Secretary's International Women of Courage Award (U.S. Department of State)

 References 

Category:20th-century births
Category:Living people
Category:Bangladeshi journalists
Category:Bangladeshi crime victims
Category:Women who received the International Women of Courage Award