June 14th, 2011
At least 50 anti-government protesters were jailed in
Bangladesh yesterday after the authorities broke up the second general strike staged this month. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Islamic fundamentalist group, Jamaat-e-Islami, are
oppposing the planned abolition of a law which requires the government to hand over power to a neutral party for polling once their administration is over. Protesters observing the 36-hour strike have been
jailed for up to a month for “creating public disturbance” in the capital, Dhaka.
July 3rd, 2010
Shaheda Yesmin, the wife of Shamsher M. Chowdhury appeals for help from the United Nations. Chowdhury, a UN commissioner and the country’s former Foreign Secretary has been arrested on arson charges that his family say are politically motivated
Kingston Rhodes
Chairman
United Nations, International Civil Service Commission
New York
Dear Chairman
On the morning of 27th June 2010 my husband Shamsher M. Chowdhury, who has been a commissioner of the ICSC since 2005, was suddenly arrested by the government of Bangladesh on false and concocted charges. He was taken to prison and after appearing in court on 30th June, was released on bail. As he was preparing to return home, another totally false and concocted case has been lodged against him today, 1st July 2010, and he has been detained in prison again.
Mr. Rhodes, the whole episode is part of a campaign of political persecution against my husband. For the last one year, the government of Bangladesh has been trying to get Shamsher M. Chowdhury’s membership of ICSC cancelled on one pretext or another. Since he was elected by the General Assembly and by name, technically the government can’t do anything about it.
Hence, it has started to politically persuade him and try to bar him from attending the 71st session of the ICSC which will be held in New York on 26th July. He is expected to arrive New York on 21st July, for which the UN has already issued him his air ticket. He has also booked his accommodation in a hotel in New York for this purpose.
It is also very likely that the government of Bangladesh will try to discredit him and force the UN to discontinue his membership of the ICSC. Mr. Chairman, the matter is indeed very serious. Not only is my husband being physically and mentally tortured, all attempts are being made to disgrace and discredit him for no fault of his own.
Mr. Chairman, Shamsher M. Chowdhury has the rank and status of an Under Secretary General of the United Nations being a commissioner of the UN ICSC. I therefore appeal to you that the Secretary General of the United Nations should immediately, I repeat, immediately intervene with the government at the highest level (Prime Minister) and ask for the release of Mr. Shamsher M. Chowdhury. Such an intervention is fully justified as Mr. Chowdhury is currently working for the United Nations in an elected capacity. In his appeal to the government of Bangladesh, Secretary General should also strongly mention that Mr. Shamsher M. Chowdhury has a major physical handicap and his continued incarceration under extreme hard and inhuman conditions which tamp amount to physical torture and causing hardship to a handicapped individual.
Mr. Chairman, given the seriousness of the matter, I seek your immediate necessary action so that the secretary general can intervene to not only end this persecution of an UN official but also put an end to this torture of a physically handicapped person immediately.
I am eagerly looking forward to hearing from you on this.
Yours Sincerely
Shaheda Yesmin
Wife of Shamsher M. Chowdhury
Commisioner UN ICSC
June 17th, 2010
Lawyers for “Amar Desh” editor Mahmudur Rahman have released this statement below, claiming that the editor of the
recently shut down Bangladeshi newspaper was tortured in police custody.
(more…)
June 2nd, 2010
Police last night closed a popular newspaper, sealing its offices and arresting its editor on fraud charges — opposition fears move marks wider press clampdown. Parvez Kabir and Michael Harris report
The Bangladeshi government ordered the closure of the country’s third largest national daily newspaper Amar Desh at around midnight last night. In an interview conducted with the acting editor, Mahmudur Rahman, in the early hours of the morning before his arrest, he told Index on Censorship that police officers under government orders had stormed the newspaper’s headquarters in Kawaran Bazar, Dhaka. Many in the opposition Bangladeshi National Party (BNP) — which Amar Desh supports — believe the closure is part of a move by the Awami League government to crack down on press freedom to minimise opposition to government policy.
In April, Bangladesh’s only private television station, Channel One, was taken off air by the government due to “licensing issues” and yesterday, popular social networking site Facebook was also blocked in the name of “public order”. Many Bangladeshis fear a return to the censorship and silence enforced by previous governments. In 1975, Awami League leader, the late Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, banned and closed all but four state-owned national newspapers to shore up support for one-party rule. This latest clampdown comes in spite of the government’s official rhetoric of creating a Digital Bangladesh.
Background to the closure
In recent months, Mahmudur Rahman has written editorials and articles criticising the government, he has documented human rights abuses, extra-judicial killings and maladministration by officials linked to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Rahman told Index: “The government has made a fascist stance against freedom of expression.” He stressed, “We are the third largest national daily and have the second largest internet readership…I have in my journalism exposed the government’s record on corruption and human rights abuses extensively, in recent days we have seen a high number of custodial deaths…in other words I have challenged Sheikh Hasina, the current prime minister, on her integrity and challenged the establishment.”
According to unconfirmed reports, Amar Desh’s troubles began when its publisher, Hashmat Ali Hash, was detained by National Security Intelligence agents at an undisclosed location. Ali was freed after six hours, and announced his intention to sue Mahmudur Rahman on charges of fraud, impersonation and defamation. Ali signed papers stating he was no longer responsible for Amar Desh and stating “legal steps can be taken as his name is being printed as the publisher”, hence the fraud charges.
According to reports for Index from Bangladesh, the police were initially unable to arrest Mahmudur Rahman as almost 400 members of the newspapers staff acted as a human barricade. They pleaded to be arrested with him in an act of solidarity to highlight the government’s curbs on freedom of speech.
Rahman has asked those who work for freedom of expression around the world to publicise the situation in Bangladesh. He said: “Support us in the fight to freedom of speech, people should be free to struggle and show their dissent against oppressive measures, that is part of any civil plural democracy”.
We have been unable to contact Bangladesh’s High Commission for comment.
The Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists and Dhaka Union of Journalists have called a protest rally at the National Press Club at 11:00am today (Thursday) in protest against the government’s action
Parvez Kabir is a UK-based activist on Bangladeshi issues; Michael Harris is Index on Censorship’s Public Affairs Manager
UPDATE: Mahmudar Rahman’s lawayers claim he has benn tortured in custody. Read here
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June 2nd, 2010
Facebook admitted on 1 June that it has now
blocked Pakistani users from accessing the page Everybody Draw Mohammed Day. A company spokesperson claimed the restrictions were placed “out of respect for local rules”.
Pakistan temporarily banned Facebook website on May 19, Bangladesh banned the site on 29 May because of the page, and it is know expected the company will block it for the Bangladeshi government as well.
April 1st, 2010
On Tuesday, after a High Court hearing, a ban was
lifted on an
exhibition by photographer Dr. Shahidul Alam. The exhibition, named “Crossfire”, contained a collection of photographs and displays regarding extrajudicial executions by the Bangladeshi Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). The show at the Drik Gallery in Dakha was closed by police on 22 March, 2010.
May 20th, 2009
The South Asia Media Solidarity Network is an alliance of journalists’ trade unions, press freedom organisations and journalists in South Asia committed to working together to promote freedom of expression, freedom of association and journalists’ rights in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
May 20th, 2009
Media Watch is an organisation that monitors abuses against the press and promotes press freedom in Bangladesh.
[No link currently available.]
