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Previous Action Alerts 10/5/06 - Bangladesh
October 04, 2006
PEN USA Honorary Member and 2005 Freedom to Write Award Winner Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury capital sedition case goes to trial next week.
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PEN USA Honorary Member Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury has been given a court date after months of delay by the Bangladesh court system.
Choudhury was arrested in 2003 as he attempted to board a plane to Israel to deliver a speech at a writers’ symposium entitled Bridges Through Culture addressing the role of the media in establishing peace.
He then spent many months in jail under incredibly difficult conditions and denied medical care, until he was released on bail in May 2005 following appeals from this center and other organizations.
Awaiting trial, Choudhury was assured that the charges of sedition against him would be dropped, and he would be given back his passport.
After being released, Choudhury still endured death threats from radicals, and the office from which he published his weekly newspaper Blitz was bombed.
In addition, each subsequent court appearance served only to delay the trial, until a court date on September 19.
At that court appearance, despite assurances from the government, Choudhury was informed that the sedition charges (a capital offense) would stand and the case will begin on October 12th.
PEN doubts that Choudhury will receive a fair trial.
Please send appeals:
Expressing concern about the continued charges against Choudhury despite assurances that they would be dropped.
Urging the Bangladesh government to drop the charges and investigate the harassment against him.
Appeals to:
Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia
Office of the Prime Minister
Gona Bhaban
Sher-e Bangla Nagar
Dhaka
Bangladesh
Fax: +880 2 811 3243 / 3244 / 1015 / 1490
(Dear Prime Minister)
Mr Lutfuzaman Babar
Minister of Home Affairs
Ministry of Home Affairs
Bangladesh Secretariat
Building 4
Dhaka
Bangladesh
Fax: +880 2 861 9667
(Dear Home Minister)
If you can, copy the letters to Bangladesh’s Ambassador to the US:
Mr. Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury
Bangladesh Ambassador to the United States
Embassy of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh
3510 International Drive, N.W.
Washington D.C. 20008
and bring up the case with the US Ambassador to Bangladesh:
Patricia A. Butenis
U.S. Embassy,
Madani Avenue,
Baridhara, Dhaka 1212,
Bangladesh
Comments:
Inter-religious understanding should not be a threat to your country. It should serve to make your country stronger if people can agree to disagree and do so with respect.
Recognizing the State of Israel should not be a threat to your country. It need never mean that you approve of every decision made by the government of Israel, but it does put you in a position to aid in making peace on this Earth.
Shoaib Choudhury is in no way a threat
to your country. You know that the charge against him to the effect that he is a Mossad agent is entirely false. He is a person who, through his courage and his strong voice can help to make your country stronger.
Please drop the charges against this good man and give him the true protection he deserves.
Ramadan Muburak, Eid Muburak,
A-Salamu Alaykum