Salah Choudhury

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Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is the editor of the Bangladeshi tabloid The Weekly Blitz.^[1]^[2]

Shoaib Choudhury has written a number of books in Bangla and English. His latest book Injustice & Jihad was published in October 2007. In April 2008, Italian publication house Neftasia plans to publish Choudhury's book titled 'Non Sono Colpevole' in Italian. This will be the first book of any contemporary Bangladeshi journalist translated into Italian.

Choudhury opened a branch of the Israel-based International Forum for Literature and Culture of Peace. He wrote about the rise of al-Qaeda in Bangladesh and has written articles critical of anti-Israeli and antisemitic attitudes in Muslim-majority countries.^[3]

Choudhury is an Advisory Board Member of the Islam-Israel Fellowship^[4], a group co-founded by Sheikh Abdul Hadi Palazzi.

PEN USA gave their Freedom to Write Award in 2005 in recognition of his commitment to courageous journalism under extreme adversity.^[5]

The American Jewish Committee presented its Moral Courage Award to him in May 2006, but the Bangladesh government prevented him from visiting the United States to receive the honor.^[6]

HRH Prince Albert of Monaco awarded the 2007 Monaco Media Award to Choudhury for outstanding courage and commitment in confronting the culture of religious hatred.

Choudhury also received the Key to Englewood, Colorado, USA from Mayor Michael Wildes.

Choudhury will face charges of sedition, treason, blasphemy and espionage for having tried to attend a conference of the Hebrew Writers' Association in Tel Aviv. He violated the Passport Act, by attempting to travel to Israel in November 2003. The Act forbids citizens from visiting countries with which Bangladesh does not maintain diplomatic relations, usually punishable by a fine of $8. On November 29, he was taken into police custody^[7] and, as he tells it, blindfolded, beaten and interrogated for 10 days in an attempt to extract a confession that he was spying for Israel. He spent the next 17 months in solitary confinement, and was denied medical treatment for his glaucoma. On intervention of U.S. Congressman Mark Kirk, who spoke to Bangladesh's ambassador to the U.S., Choudhury's was released on bail, though the charges were not dropped.^[8]

In July, a mob stormed the premises of Choudhury's tabloid and beat him, fracturing his ankle.^[9] In September, a judge ordered the case continued, in spite of the government's reluctance to prosecute, as Choudhury had "spoiled" the "image of Bangladesh" and "hurt the sentiments of Muslims" by lauding Jews, Hindus and Christians. After the police detail that had been posted to the Blitz's offices since the July bombing had vanished, the offices were ransacked and Choudhury was badly beaten by a mob. When he lodged a formal complaint with the police, an arrest warrant was issued for him. The U.S. Embassy in Dhaka sent an observer to his trial.^[8]

Later, Choudhury lodged a case in the Court of Metropolitan Magistrate against the attackers, mostly belonging to the Cultural Wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Now the case is under investigation. From 13th November 2006, the judge will begin hearing the witnesses in this case.

1 Arrest
2 Islamist links
3 Support for Choudhury
4 House Resolution
5 Notes
6 External links

[edit] Arrest

Choudhury was arrested on November 29, 2003 at Dhaka airport. Here is the news report.^[10] from The Daily Star, the leading English language daily in Bangladesh:

A man was arrested at Zia International Airport (ZIA) yesterday morning on his way to Tel Aviv for his alleged Mosad connection.

A leader of Bangladesh chapter of ‘Iflaq’, a Haifa-based organisation, Salauddin Shoib Chowdhury was carrying compact disks (CD) and papers containing write-ups on some sensitive issues including ‘minority repression and the al Qaeda network in Bangladesh’, police said.

Shoaib was managing director of the planned Inquilab Television until he was sacked last year.

Members of different law enforcement agencies and ZIA immigration officials apprehended him at the immigration counter minutes before he was to leave for Bangkok by the Biman flight, BG-084, at 10:30am.

"He introduced himself as the editor of the ‘Blitz’, an entertainment magazine published from Dhaka, and said he was going to Bangkok," a top police officer said yesterday on condition of anonymity.

"Searching his luggage, we found a number of CD-formatted write-ups and papers that clearly proved his contact with Tel Aviv," he said. "He was going to take part in a conference in Tel Aviv scheduled to begin on December 1," the police officer added.

It was however learnt that Shoib’s movements were being monitored for quite sometime on suspicion of his connection with the Israeli secret service ‘Mossad’.

"He was going to Bangkok first and was scheduled to fly for Israel, a country Bangladeshi citizens are barred from travelling to," he said.

[edit] Islamist links

Choudhury was the managing director of Inqilab Television, a private television venture run by a major publication the Daily Inqilab. Choudhury was also a correspondent for the Daily Inqilab. Choudhury owned a 30% stake, worth approximately $1 million according to Choudhury, in Inqilab Television. Choudhury claims his ownership share in the television station was sold without his consent. As Choudhury's first court appearance, he claimed that his arrest was motivated by the financial dispute over his ownership stake in Inqilab Television. Choudhury was previously arrested on July 17, 1999 on charges of sending threatening emails to then Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina and her family. He was charged on May 3, 2000 and served six months in jail.^[11]

[edit] Support for Choudhury

The campaign to get the government of Bangladesh to drop all charges against Choudhury is being led by Dr. Richard Benkin. Dr. Benkin, like Choudhury, is an Advisory Board Member of Islam-Israel Fellowship.^[12] Dr. Benkin and Choudhury together formed Interfaith Strength to disseminate information about Choudhury's case. On September 6, 2005 Dr. Richard Benkin registered^[13] as a foreign agent with the United States Department of Justice, under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).^[14] According to the document filed with the US government, Dr. Benkin registered as a foreign agent with Lutfuzzaman Babar, former State Minister for Home Affairs of Bangladesh, as his principal, for a sum of $5000 per month to prepare and disseminate informational materials via radio or TV broadcasts, magazines or newspaper articles, letters or telegrams, press releases and the internet. He was hired to disseminate this information to public officials, civic groups or associations, legislators, newspapers and editors. In many of his newspaper articles^[15]^[16]^[17] about Choudhury, Dr. Benkin quotes Lutfuzzaman Babar as a source. However, Dr. Benkin does not divulge his role as a paid agent for Lutfuzzaman Babar in these articles.

[edit] House Resolution

On February 15, 2007, HOUSE RESOLUTION 64 passed the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs without opposition. The resolution, introduced by Representatives Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Nita Lowey (D-NY), calls on the government of Bangladesh to drop all charges against Bangladeshi Journalist Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury charged with sedition for writing pro-Israel reports. The penalty for conviction could be death. The vote on the resolution was held on March 13, 2007 and the resolution passed by a vote of 409 to 1 with 4 members voting present [1].