Our Hero Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury attacked again: How long we can remain silent?
February 23, 2009
This time not Islamists or religious fanatics, but, this time, our Hero and my brother and a loving brother of millions of people around the world, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is attacked by the very party cadres of Bangladesh Awami League, a party now in power in Bangladesh, which pretends to be following secularist ideology.
According to a Press Release, distributed by U.S. Peace activist Dr. Richard L Benkin and a tireless defender of Shoaib Choudhury, office of anti Jihadist newspaper, Weekly Blitz in Bangladesh came under attack on Sunday morning (February 22, 2009) by armed members of the ruling party in presence of law enforcing agencies. The team of thugs was led by one Shamim from DGFI (Military Intelligence).
At 10 a.m. Sunday, local time, internationally-acclaimed journalist Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, was attacked as he was working in the office of his newspaper, Weekly Blitz, by 'a gang of thugs' claiming to be from Bangladesh's ruling Awami League. Choudhury is now under medical treatment for eye, neck, and other injuries suffered in the attack. The renewed violence marks the first against him since he was abducted by Bangladesh´s dreaded Rapid Action Battalion a year ago.
A large group led by one Shamim introducing himself to be an official of DGFI stormed Blitz premises and attacked newspaper staff until they found Choudhury. At that point, he said, 'they dragged me (and two staffs) into the street' where they beat them in broad daylight. They looted Blitz office and stole Shoaib Choudhury´s laptop with all his important information. As of this writing, the attackers continue to occupy the Blitz office and there is no sign of any action from the government in Dhaka.
Police were impassive and seemed intimidated when the attackers emphasized their party membership and accused him of being an agent of the Israeli Mossad. They later threatened to attack his home should Choudhury go to the police again.
A case has been lodged with Paltan Model Police Station. Case No. 65. Under section 143, 448, 323, 342, 384, 380, 227 and 506 of Bangladesh Penal Code. Police although claim to have already started searching for the culprits who were involved in this broad day crime, according to Weekly Blitz; there is no action from the police in arresting the culprits. Meanwhile, a number of culprits are continuing to give threat calls to Weekly Blitz editor Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury and reminding him of not taking any legal action on Sunday's incident. They are saying, "You should know, Awami League is in power and we can do almost everything, whatever we want. You will be a dead man if you proceed."
Since a new government came in power on, members of its students, youth and other wings became active in a number of crimes, including extorting, land and property grabbing, murder, abduction etc. Attack on the office of a newspaper, is the first time, since this government came in power only in January this year. Earlier, during its tenure in 1996-2001, a number of journalists were attacked and murdered by the party cadres of Bangladesh Awami League. A young journalist named Tipu Sultan was mercilessly tortured and beaten by thugs belonging to Awami League leader Joinal Hazari. Tipu had to be treated for months in local and foreign hospitals for recovery.
Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury was arrested in 2003 by government agents, in cooperation with Islamist forces, because of his advocacy of relations with Israel and religious equality, and his articles exposing the rise of radical Islam in Bangladesh. He was tortured and held for seventeen months and only released after strong pressure by human rights activist Dr. Richard Benkin and US Congressman Mark Kirk (R-IL). In 2007, the US Congress passed a Kirk-introduced resolution 409-1 calling on Bangladesh to stop harassing Choudhury and drop capital charges against him after extensive evidence confirmed them to be false, contrary to Bangladeshi law, and as admitted by successive Bangladeshi officials, maintained only to appease Islamists. The Bangladeshi government continues to remain in defiance of that resolution and its provisions.
Earlier, only few days back, a person named Advocate Shintu aka Shintu, claiming to be the advisor to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina called Shoaib Choudhury and demanded TK. 500,000 (roughly US$ 8000) as extortion. Shintu said, if Shoaib fails to pay the demanded amount, his office and house will be attacked. It is highly anticipated that, Advocate Shintu might also have his hands behind the Sunday´s attack on Shoaib. Since the present government came in power, many such elements are regularly giving threat calls to various individuals and demanding extortions. The matter got spread through various news wires services and newspapers around the world, but the government in Dhaka was just tight lipped in taking any steps at least in investigating the matter.
To many around the world, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is the genuine Moslem Hero of moderation.
"People are punished for crime, for creating anarchy and for putting humanity into horrifying terror. But, could we ever believe that someone would be arrested, tortured and imprisoned for long 17 months just for being in favor of global peace, inter-faith dialogue, ending religious hatred and thinking of everything good and noble for mankind? In my case it did happen and after being released on bail keeping the sedition charge very much alive. According to the allegations, my crime is: I am a living contradiction to today's phenomenon in the Muslim world, a Zionist, a defender of Israel and a devout, practicing Muslim living in the second largest Muslim country in the world."
These are not mere words! These are all facts. Such courageous statement comes from the very heart of a Moslem journalist in Bangladesh named Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, who is facing sedition, treason and blasphemy charges in his own country since 2003, for confronting radical Islam, for advocating interfaith understanding between Moslems, Jews and Christians and for demanding relations between Israel and the Moslem Bangladesh. For this 'crime', Choudhury is continuing to suffer since he was arrested on November 29, 2003 while boarding a flight bound Tel Aviv to attend a writer's conference. According to Bangladeshi law, sedition charge bears capital punishment. It is greatly anticipated that, if the international community, including the United States Congress, European Parliament and the Australian Senate wouldn't stand in his support, by now, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury was already a dead man.
Why does he promote interfaith dialogue? Replying to such questions, Choudhury says in his own words, "Through dialogue we can learn about one another's beliefs and faith. You and I, yes we can challenge belief and build on faith. By this simple action we deepen what it means to us as individual and as a group the idea of being guided, inspired and even acting according to God's plan. The whole idea of faith, trust, and belief is a philosophical debate between individuals from the central point our self and the peripheral our community. Religions can be based on theology but more importantly it should be based on our perception and understanding of God's words as individuals and not as a mass. This had been the reason as to why I promote interfaith dialogue. Religion does not promote hatred however men have promoted hatred by favoring one religion over the others; usually it is their interpretation of what religion means which is based on theology or the word of God as interpreted by men of small minds. Some monotheists accuse others of worshipping idols and having false gods. Some radicals go as far as destroying historical temples. This can be seen when Christians had statues to represent images of Jesus or the Virgin Mary they were either destroyed or painted over. Romans destroyed the Second Temple in Jerusalem. Christians and later Muslims destroyed Hindu temples in India or parts or other parts of the world. The first Christian priests were destroying the spiritual icons of natives, and saying they worshipped idols in nature. Hindus destroyed Muslim and Christian Mosques and Churches. The list goes on an on. However, there is another aspect of religion that is often forgotten those from the tradition who have made a contribution to stopping hatred, which promotes better understanding."
He says, "Like most Muslims, I've been victimized by a socially supported information flow; one that taught me to look the other way when facts seem to contradict the politically-mandated and politically-correct weltanschauung that we are supposed to adopt. I was taught that much of the world is in essence my enemy, and that Israel and the Jewish people are the embodiment of evil. And I was taught to distrust—even though we all admired—Americans.
"And that is the case because the enemies of freedom have wormed their way into most social institutions in the Muslim world—the press, the media, governments, and schools. I have seen this in my own nation—a nation of good people, who seek nothing other than the things all of us want in life. These enemies of freedom seek to control my people by controlling our access to information and our contact with those who offer a different point of view."
There is no room to have any doubt that, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is the Moslem Hero in millions, who has the guts and courage to stand against all evils. Although thousands of his friends and supporters around the world offered him political asylum (he was offered asylum in United States, Canada, Australia, Denmark and Sweden), Choudhury opts for staying in Bangladesh to fight the radical Islam. He visited United States twice in 2007, and each time, he returned to his own country despite requests from his friends of seeking asylum in that country.
Why did Choudhury choose to return rather than ask for a sure-to-be-granted asylum? The question, doubtless uppermost in the minds of his listeners, was raised in the question and answer period. Choudhury responded that this was just what the Islamic extremists wanted. "I will fight in my own country. If someone is willing to say no to jihad he must say it on the ground." On practical grounds, too, Choudhury observed that if he were to take political asylum, others in Bangladesh would lose heart and he wants to show them you can stand up against the extremists at home. "I have to give them confidence by being there. If I abandon them, why should they join me?" Choudhury says that while he was alone at the time of his arrest, gradually he has been winning support, especially from Hindus and Bahais (around 17% of the population is not Moslem) but also increasingly among Moslems.
Forty-three years old, Choudhury is that rarest of breed, a faithful Moslem who, in the belly of the beast, publicly dissents from the stifling orthodoxy of hatred and extremism that characterizes the Islamic world. There are a handful of other outspoken Moslem-born men and women (mainly the latter), but while their heroism is unquestionable, most live in the West where, although their lives remain in danger, their right to speak is at least upheld by the government.
What can we learn from the heroism and tribulations of this extraordinary human being, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury? On one hand, his fate is a reminder of the depth of hatred toward Israel in the Moslem world, which Israel's peace-processors ignore to their great peril. Bangladesh is not Arab, has no borders or conflict with Israel. Yet this country, with the third largest Moslem population in the world, makes it a crime for a citizen to go to Israel and is so hostile that it is prepared to give the death penalty to anyone who seeks to defy the ban and speaks up for friendship with the Jewish state.
There is a more encouraging lesson if the West would but take it. Choudhury is precisely the kind of Moslem reformer the administration says it is looking for. Arguing the administration should be doing much more on his behalf, Bret Stephens observes: "Mr. Choudhury has identified himself, at huge personal risk, as one such Moslem (reformer)" making "unimaginable sacrifices for the values of the U.S., Israel, and all who wish them well." Stephens pleads for American policy to "keep faith with the people who have kept faith with us." There can be no actions more discouraging to those who would read the Koran differently, who need support to stand up against the Jihadists sweeping the Moslem world, than to see the American administration courting the Hamas-supporters of CAIR and the other extremist organizations it currently coddles.
Our undeterred Hero, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is attacked again! Cowards are trying to suffocate his voice and that is why repeated attacks took place on him and his newspaper.
Is there anyone in the international press, who can at least pick up the pen or put the camera on neck to cover the sordid story of this most courageous Moslem journalist of our age? Why newspapers like New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, International Herald Tribune, Newsweek, TIME Magazine, The Guardian, CNN, Fox News, BBC etc are still silent on this matter? How long they can afford to remain silent, when a fellow journalist is facing continuous persecution in his own land almost single-handedly? Where are those preachers of ´Moderate Moslem´ or ´Interfaith Harmony´? We need to act now, before Shoaib Choudhury´s name is included in the list of martyrs.
According to a Press Release, distributed by U.S. Peace activist Dr. Richard L Benkin and a tireless defender of Shoaib Choudhury, office of anti Jihadist newspaper, Weekly Blitz in Bangladesh came under attack on Sunday morning (February 22, 2009) by armed members of the ruling party in presence of law enforcing agencies. The team of thugs was led by one Shamim from DGFI (Military Intelligence).
At 10 a.m. Sunday, local time, internationally-acclaimed journalist Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, was attacked as he was working in the office of his newspaper, Weekly Blitz, by 'a gang of thugs' claiming to be from Bangladesh's ruling Awami League. Choudhury is now under medical treatment for eye, neck, and other injuries suffered in the attack. The renewed violence marks the first against him since he was abducted by Bangladesh´s dreaded Rapid Action Battalion a year ago.
A large group led by one Shamim introducing himself to be an official of DGFI stormed Blitz premises and attacked newspaper staff until they found Choudhury. At that point, he said, 'they dragged me (and two staffs) into the street' where they beat them in broad daylight. They looted Blitz office and stole Shoaib Choudhury´s laptop with all his important information. As of this writing, the attackers continue to occupy the Blitz office and there is no sign of any action from the government in Dhaka.
Police were impassive and seemed intimidated when the attackers emphasized their party membership and accused him of being an agent of the Israeli Mossad. They later threatened to attack his home should Choudhury go to the police again.
A case has been lodged with Paltan Model Police Station. Case No. 65. Under section 143, 448, 323, 342, 384, 380, 227 and 506 of Bangladesh Penal Code. Police although claim to have already started searching for the culprits who were involved in this broad day crime, according to Weekly Blitz; there is no action from the police in arresting the culprits. Meanwhile, a number of culprits are continuing to give threat calls to Weekly Blitz editor Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury and reminding him of not taking any legal action on Sunday's incident. They are saying, "You should know, Awami League is in power and we can do almost everything, whatever we want. You will be a dead man if you proceed."
Since a new government came in power on, members of its students, youth and other wings became active in a number of crimes, including extorting, land and property grabbing, murder, abduction etc. Attack on the office of a newspaper, is the first time, since this government came in power only in January this year. Earlier, during its tenure in 1996-2001, a number of journalists were attacked and murdered by the party cadres of Bangladesh Awami League. A young journalist named Tipu Sultan was mercilessly tortured and beaten by thugs belonging to Awami League leader Joinal Hazari. Tipu had to be treated for months in local and foreign hospitals for recovery.
Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury was arrested in 2003 by government agents, in cooperation with Islamist forces, because of his advocacy of relations with Israel and religious equality, and his articles exposing the rise of radical Islam in Bangladesh. He was tortured and held for seventeen months and only released after strong pressure by human rights activist Dr. Richard Benkin and US Congressman Mark Kirk (R-IL). In 2007, the US Congress passed a Kirk-introduced resolution 409-1 calling on Bangladesh to stop harassing Choudhury and drop capital charges against him after extensive evidence confirmed them to be false, contrary to Bangladeshi law, and as admitted by successive Bangladeshi officials, maintained only to appease Islamists. The Bangladeshi government continues to remain in defiance of that resolution and its provisions.
Earlier, only few days back, a person named Advocate Shintu aka Shintu, claiming to be the advisor to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina called Shoaib Choudhury and demanded TK. 500,000 (roughly US$ 8000) as extortion. Shintu said, if Shoaib fails to pay the demanded amount, his office and house will be attacked. It is highly anticipated that, Advocate Shintu might also have his hands behind the Sunday´s attack on Shoaib. Since the present government came in power, many such elements are regularly giving threat calls to various individuals and demanding extortions. The matter got spread through various news wires services and newspapers around the world, but the government in Dhaka was just tight lipped in taking any steps at least in investigating the matter.
To many around the world, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is the genuine Moslem Hero of moderation.
"People are punished for crime, for creating anarchy and for putting humanity into horrifying terror. But, could we ever believe that someone would be arrested, tortured and imprisoned for long 17 months just for being in favor of global peace, inter-faith dialogue, ending religious hatred and thinking of everything good and noble for mankind? In my case it did happen and after being released on bail keeping the sedition charge very much alive. According to the allegations, my crime is: I am a living contradiction to today's phenomenon in the Muslim world, a Zionist, a defender of Israel and a devout, practicing Muslim living in the second largest Muslim country in the world."
These are not mere words! These are all facts. Such courageous statement comes from the very heart of a Moslem journalist in Bangladesh named Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, who is facing sedition, treason and blasphemy charges in his own country since 2003, for confronting radical Islam, for advocating interfaith understanding between Moslems, Jews and Christians and for demanding relations between Israel and the Moslem Bangladesh. For this 'crime', Choudhury is continuing to suffer since he was arrested on November 29, 2003 while boarding a flight bound Tel Aviv to attend a writer's conference. According to Bangladeshi law, sedition charge bears capital punishment. It is greatly anticipated that, if the international community, including the United States Congress, European Parliament and the Australian Senate wouldn't stand in his support, by now, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury was already a dead man.
Why does he promote interfaith dialogue? Replying to such questions, Choudhury says in his own words, "Through dialogue we can learn about one another's beliefs and faith. You and I, yes we can challenge belief and build on faith. By this simple action we deepen what it means to us as individual and as a group the idea of being guided, inspired and even acting according to God's plan. The whole idea of faith, trust, and belief is a philosophical debate between individuals from the central point our self and the peripheral our community. Religions can be based on theology but more importantly it should be based on our perception and understanding of God's words as individuals and not as a mass. This had been the reason as to why I promote interfaith dialogue. Religion does not promote hatred however men have promoted hatred by favoring one religion over the others; usually it is their interpretation of what religion means which is based on theology or the word of God as interpreted by men of small minds. Some monotheists accuse others of worshipping idols and having false gods. Some radicals go as far as destroying historical temples. This can be seen when Christians had statues to represent images of Jesus or the Virgin Mary they were either destroyed or painted over. Romans destroyed the Second Temple in Jerusalem. Christians and later Muslims destroyed Hindu temples in India or parts or other parts of the world. The first Christian priests were destroying the spiritual icons of natives, and saying they worshipped idols in nature. Hindus destroyed Muslim and Christian Mosques and Churches. The list goes on an on. However, there is another aspect of religion that is often forgotten those from the tradition who have made a contribution to stopping hatred, which promotes better understanding."
He says, "Like most Muslims, I've been victimized by a socially supported information flow; one that taught me to look the other way when facts seem to contradict the politically-mandated and politically-correct weltanschauung that we are supposed to adopt. I was taught that much of the world is in essence my enemy, and that Israel and the Jewish people are the embodiment of evil. And I was taught to distrust—even though we all admired—Americans.
"And that is the case because the enemies of freedom have wormed their way into most social institutions in the Muslim world—the press, the media, governments, and schools. I have seen this in my own nation—a nation of good people, who seek nothing other than the things all of us want in life. These enemies of freedom seek to control my people by controlling our access to information and our contact with those who offer a different point of view."
There is no room to have any doubt that, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is the Moslem Hero in millions, who has the guts and courage to stand against all evils. Although thousands of his friends and supporters around the world offered him political asylum (he was offered asylum in United States, Canada, Australia, Denmark and Sweden), Choudhury opts for staying in Bangladesh to fight the radical Islam. He visited United States twice in 2007, and each time, he returned to his own country despite requests from his friends of seeking asylum in that country.
Why did Choudhury choose to return rather than ask for a sure-to-be-granted asylum? The question, doubtless uppermost in the minds of his listeners, was raised in the question and answer period. Choudhury responded that this was just what the Islamic extremists wanted. "I will fight in my own country. If someone is willing to say no to jihad he must say it on the ground." On practical grounds, too, Choudhury observed that if he were to take political asylum, others in Bangladesh would lose heart and he wants to show them you can stand up against the extremists at home. "I have to give them confidence by being there. If I abandon them, why should they join me?" Choudhury says that while he was alone at the time of his arrest, gradually he has been winning support, especially from Hindus and Bahais (around 17% of the population is not Moslem) but also increasingly among Moslems.
Forty-three years old, Choudhury is that rarest of breed, a faithful Moslem who, in the belly of the beast, publicly dissents from the stifling orthodoxy of hatred and extremism that characterizes the Islamic world. There are a handful of other outspoken Moslem-born men and women (mainly the latter), but while their heroism is unquestionable, most live in the West where, although their lives remain in danger, their right to speak is at least upheld by the government.
What can we learn from the heroism and tribulations of this extraordinary human being, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury? On one hand, his fate is a reminder of the depth of hatred toward Israel in the Moslem world, which Israel's peace-processors ignore to their great peril. Bangladesh is not Arab, has no borders or conflict with Israel. Yet this country, with the third largest Moslem population in the world, makes it a crime for a citizen to go to Israel and is so hostile that it is prepared to give the death penalty to anyone who seeks to defy the ban and speaks up for friendship with the Jewish state.
There is a more encouraging lesson if the West would but take it. Choudhury is precisely the kind of Moslem reformer the administration says it is looking for. Arguing the administration should be doing much more on his behalf, Bret Stephens observes: "Mr. Choudhury has identified himself, at huge personal risk, as one such Moslem (reformer)" making "unimaginable sacrifices for the values of the U.S., Israel, and all who wish them well." Stephens pleads for American policy to "keep faith with the people who have kept faith with us." There can be no actions more discouraging to those who would read the Koran differently, who need support to stand up against the Jihadists sweeping the Moslem world, than to see the American administration courting the Hamas-supporters of CAIR and the other extremist organizations it currently coddles.
Our undeterred Hero, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is attacked again! Cowards are trying to suffocate his voice and that is why repeated attacks took place on him and his newspaper.
Is there anyone in the international press, who can at least pick up the pen or put the camera on neck to cover the sordid story of this most courageous Moslem journalist of our age? Why newspapers like New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, International Herald Tribune, Newsweek, TIME Magazine, The Guardian, CNN, Fox News, BBC etc are still silent on this matter? How long they can afford to remain silent, when a fellow journalist is facing continuous persecution in his own land almost single-handedly? Where are those preachers of ´Moderate Moslem´ or ´Interfaith Harmony´? We need to act now, before Shoaib Choudhury´s name is included in the list of martyrs.
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