DHAKA: An international media watchdog called on Bangladesh’s emergency government on Saturday to investigate the alleged torture of a newspaper editor by elite security forces.

International press freedom group Reporters Without Borders said Noor Ahmed of the daily Sylhet Protidin was tortured several times by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) while held in custody last year.

The global media group said he was “beaten with a stick from his knees to his feet and was questioned about his implication in a case of extortion and beaten each time he denied it.”

Ahmed, released on bail in September 2007, told a local rights group, which first carried out an investigation into the alleged torture, that he was targeted because he was investigating alleged illegal activities by the RAB and allegations that the police chief of the north-eastern city of Sylhet was taking bribes.

“RAB agents several times demanded the closure of the paper and threatened to harm Noor, while still in prison, unless he shut it down,” Reporters Without Borders said. “After a night of physical and mental torture, he signed a paper which he was unable to read. While he was in prison, RAB officers threatened to imprison him again if he returned to journalism on his release,” the group said.

“It is appalling that local officials, including those responsible for law and order, can attack journalists with complete impunity,” Reporters Without Borders said, demanding punishment for the perpetrators.

Established in 2004, the elite RAB is Bangladesh’s top security force, formed by the country’s last elected government to combat specialised crime, Islamic militants and Maoist rebels.