A reporter of Daily Amar Desh newspaper was beaten and harassed while covering a scuffle between two rival groups of BNP’s Sylhet Divisional unit at the party chairperson’s office in the capital’s Gulshan on Sunday afternoon.

“I had been covering the party’s nomination process since the morning. Around 4:30pm, three to four BNP men took me inside a room and started to beat me as I was recording a video of a scuffle that broke out between the nomination seekers,” said Zahidur Rahman, the injured journalist.

Zahidur added, “They broke my phone. When I showed my press ID, they kept my card.”

Zahid identified one of the attackers as Mohammad Faisal, an office staff who he claimed also works as the cameraman for BNP's official social media page.

"Faisal broke my phone and also assaulted me. Then they beat me and pushed me out of the office," Zahidur further said.

Meanwhile, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir condemned the attack in a statement issued later.

The statement reads, "At 4:00pm on Sunday, during the attack and clash at the BNP Chairperson's Gulshan office, Amar Desh newspaper's reporter Zahid Hasan was injured, and some journalists present were harassed. Today's incident was sudden and completely caused by a misunderstanding. I sincerely apologise to Zahid Hasan and all the journalists present during this unfortunate event."

"Journalists inform public about statements, speeches, and activities of political parties. This is why the media has an inseparable relationship with political parties," Fakhrul said in the statement.