Someone who deserves our attention AND help

Before he is killed for his beliefs

Is there any chance that the iPeace team will help this individual even thought he may not be properly Politically Correct?



Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is not yet a household name. But he should be - and his case is becoming a cause c l bre. For this courageous Bangladesh journalist and human rights defender is about to stand trial on the charges of sedition, treason and blasphemy, offences possibly punishable by the death penalty.

His crime? Promoting inter-faith dialogue between Muslims, Jews and Christians, seeking peaceful relations with Israel, and expressing concerns about extremist radical Islam.

These views - published in the /Bangladesh Weekly Blitz/, which he edits - resulted in Choudhury first being arrested on November 29, 2003 at the Bangladesh National Airport as he was about to board a plane to attend a conference in Israel on the media's role in education for peace.

Since Bangladeshi law forbids its citizens from visiting countries, such as Israel, with which Bangladesh does not maintain diplomatic relations, Choudhury was originally cited for a violation of the Passport Act, which is usually sanctioned with an eight-dollar fine. But that was not the punishment meted out to Choudhury. Following his arrest, he was taken into custody and - as he has reported - was subsequently blindfolded, beaten and interrogated incessantly for 10 days in an attempt to coerce a confession that he was an Israeli "spy."

Choudhury, who refused to "confess" to the false charge, for which no evidence was ever adduced, was charged two months later with "sedition," and was subsequently held for 16 months in solitary confinement in a Dhaka prison, without access to counsel or even medical treatment for a debilitating glaucoma.

Choudhury was released on bail on April 30, 2005 after interventions by US human rights activist Dr. Richard L. Benkin's and Congressional involvement, together with protests by the Committee to Protect Journalists, and Journalistes sans fronti res. Indeed, on September 29, 2005, he was awarded the "Freedom to Write" Award by Pen U.S.A., and in May 2006 he received the American Jewish Committee Moral Courage Award in absentia in Washington. Two days prior to the Award, Bangladesh officials rescinded his permission to travel and warned him not to leave the country.

by Irwin Cotler, Canadain MK former Justice Minister, and prof @ McGill University.