Salah Choudhury
Encyclopedia
Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury (born 12 January 1965 in Sylhet, Bangladesh) is the editor of the Bangladesh
i tabloid The Weekly Blitz the most influential anti-Jihadist newspaper in Bangladesh, and editor-in-chief of vernacular weekly Jamjamat.
In 1996 he established the first private television channel in Bangladesh, A-21 TV . He has been physically assaulted three times and once kidnapped in Bangladesh for his anti-jihadist views and his willingness to work with Israeli group for intercultural understanding.
In 1996, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury established the first private television channel in Bangladesh named A-21 TV .
and English. His latest book, Injustice & Jihad, was published in October 2007. In May 2008, Italian publication house Neftasia published Choudhury's book titled Non Sono Colpevole in Italian
. This was the first book by any contemporary Bangladeshi journalist translated into Italian.
Inside Madrassa was published in October 2009 in Bangladesh. In this book, Choudhury gave extensive information on madrassa education, including unknown facts, Jihadist orientation inside madrassa, hate speech and many other important thus interesting topics, mostly related to radical Islam.
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.
Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is the advisor of Bangladesh Minority Lawyer's Association since 2005.
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.
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
, (a city in New Jersey
, United States
), from Mayor Michael Wildes
. Teaneck, New Jersey
Mayor Elie Katz also gave him the certificate of moral courage in 2007 on behald of the City of Teaneck.
, Hindus and Christians. After the police detail that had been posted to the Blitzs 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.
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). Wall Street Journal
On 18 March 2008, members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) abducted Choudhury from his office at gun point. He was blind folded and taken to RAB office. In the late hours, Choudhury was released. Series of written complaints were sent with the military controlled interim government on this incident, but no action was ever taken by the Bangladesh authorities against the RAB men. CFP; Assam Tribune
The same month, the military-controlled interim government withdrew police protection from Choudhury's residence..
On 22 February 2009, armed thugs belonging to ruling Bangladesh Awami League
entered Choudhury's office, ransacked the entire office and physically assaulted him and other members of the Weekly Blitz newspaper. Although a specific case was already lodged with the police station on the day of occurrence, there is no action yet by the law enforcing agencies against the culprits who are sheltered by the ruling party. http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/8699CFP;
, treason
, blasphemy
and espionage
since January 2004 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. It may be mentioned here that Bangladesh currently does not have diplomatic relations with Taiwan and Israel. However, the travel ban on Taiwan was silently lifted while people started business with Taiwan in spite of the travel ban. On 29 November he was taken into police custody 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.
Choudhury's articles appear in various international press on a regular basis. He also is considered to be an expert on topics such as Islamist militancy and extensively works on finding root cause of Jihad . He is also invited by many reputed institutions around the world as a Speaker to give lecture on such topics as Islamist millitancy, jihad, and Hate Speech and Political Islam.
Hudson Institute; Hudson Institute; Countercurrent; Sri Lanka Guardian; American Chronicle
that there are moderate Muslims, but no moderate Islam. "My Islam derives from the Koran. This teaches that Muslims, Jews and Christians will all be rewarded for good deeds and punished for evil," he has said.
, the leading English language daily in Bangladesh:
After release from 17-months imprisonment, Choudhury wrote in an Israeli newspaper "I also stand before you perhaps as a living contradiction: a Zionist, a defender of Israel, and a devout, practicing Muslim, living in a Moslem country." He said "I believe in the justice of the Zionist dream. I also acknowledge this historical reality: that the world has endeavored to crush that dream and, yes, even to destroy the viability of the Jewish people. At the same time, I live in an environment where people believe just as passionately in an opposing view—one that sees Israel as illegitimate; and the Jewish people as evil incarnate."
Choudhury's father Ghulam Ather Choudhuri died on 29 March 2003, while his mother Sharifa Choudhury died on 9 August 2005. Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury was in prison when his mother died. The then government in Bangladesh refused petition by his family for him to attend his mother's funeral Ref: http://jewishvoiceandopinion.com/pdf/200708.pdf.
. 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. In first court appearance, Choudhury claimed that his arrest was motivated by the financial dispute over his ownership stake in Inqilab Television.
, under the Foreign Agents Registration Act
(FARA). 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. Benkin's decision was made in response to initially positive actions by the Bangladeshi government with respect to Choudhury as well as human rights issues. When it became clear to him, however, that these moves by the BNP government were only perfunctory, he ceased working with the government after only one month. Benkin refers to Babar as one of many sources of information about the Choudhury case in a few newspaper articles of that period. Although those who have been trying to cover up the Bangladeshi government's role in persecuting Choudhury (especially leftists related to the then-opposition Awami League, a left-center party) have tried to make much of Benkin's former relationship with the Bangladeshi government, they have failed to convince anyone that it has any bearing on the case.
In 2008, Kazi Aiz, a fundamentalist Muslim and an official of an Islamic organization, Khalefat Andolin Bangladesh [KAB], has publicly sided with Choudhury, calling the charges against him "false" and called on the Bangladeshi government to end its ban on travel to Israel.
(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 13 March 2007 and the resolution passed by a vote of 409 to 1 with 4 members voting present.
, which is published by another notorious Islamist militancy group named Hizbut Towhid. A campaign against Muslim supremacist Zakir Naik
led Britain and Canada to refuse him entry.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
i tabloid The Weekly Blitz the most influential anti-Jihadist newspaper in Bangladesh, and editor-in-chief of vernacular weekly Jamjamat.
In 1996 he established the first private television channel in Bangladesh, A-21 TV . He has been physically assaulted three times and once kidnapped in Bangladesh for his anti-jihadist views and his willingness to work with Israeli group for intercultural understanding.
Background
Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury [known to his friends as Shoaib], is the eldest child of his parents.Career
In 1989, Choudhury started his journalistic career as a correspondent for Soviet Union's TASS News Agency. In 1991, he was promoted to the rank of chief correspondent of Itar-Tass News Agency in Bangladesh. He left Itar-TASS in 1996, as after the fall of Soviet Union: the news agency had to close down many of its offices in the world .In 1996, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury established the first private television channel in Bangladesh named A-21 TV .
Publications
Choudhury has written a number of books in BanglaBengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
and English. His latest book, Injustice & Jihad, was published in October 2007. In May 2008, Italian publication house Neftasia published Choudhury's book titled Non Sono Colpevole in Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
. This was the first book by any contemporary Bangladeshi journalist translated into Italian.
Inside Madrassa was published in October 2009 in Bangladesh. In this book, Choudhury gave extensive information on madrassa education, including unknown facts, Jihadist orientation inside madrassa, hate speech and many other important thus interesting topics, mostly related to radical Islam.
Choudhury opened a branch of the Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
-based International Forum for Literature and Culture of Peace. He wrote about the rise of al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
in Bangladesh and has written articles critical of anti-Israeli and antisemitic attitudes in Muslim-majority countries.
Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is the advisor of Bangladesh Minority Lawyer's Association since 2005.
Recognition
PEN USA gave their Freedom to Write Award to Choudhury in 2005 in recognition of his commitment to courageous journalism under extreme adversity.The American Jewish Committee
American Jewish Committee
The American Jewish Committee was "founded in 1906 with the aim of rallying all sections of American Jewry to defend the rights of Jews all over the world...
presented its Moral Courage Award to him in May 2006, but the Bangladesh government prevented him from visiting the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to receive the honor.
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
Englewood, Colorado
The city of Englewood is a Home Rule Municipality located in Arapahoe County, Colorado, United States. As of 2007, the city is estimated to have a total population of 32,532. Englewood is part of the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area. Englewood is located in the South Platte River Valley east of the...
, (a city in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
), from Mayor Michael Wildes
Michael Wildes
Michael J. Wildes is an American immigration lawyer and senior partner of Wildes and Weinberg PC. He is a former Federal Prosecutor for the Eastern District of New York,, and a former Mayor of Englewood, New Jersey. He is recognized as an authority on Immigration Law, and has been referred to as...
. Teaneck, New Jersey
Teaneck, New Jersey
Teaneck is a township in Bergen County, New Jersey, and a suburb in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 39,776, making it the second-most populous among the 70 municipalities in Bergen County....
Mayor Elie Katz also gave him the certificate of moral courage in 2007 on behald of the City of Teaneck.
Assaults
In July 2006, a mob stormed the premises of Choudhury's tabloid and beat him, fracturing his ankle. 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 JewsJews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
, Hindus and Christians. After the police detail that had been posted to the Blitzs 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
Arrest warrant
An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by and on behalf of the state, which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual.-Canada:Arrest warrants are issued by a judge or justice of the peace under the Criminal Code of Canada....
was issued for him. The U.S. Embassy in Dhaka
Dhaka
Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh and the principal city of Dhaka Division. Dhaka is a megacity and one of the major cities of South Asia. Located on the banks of the Buriganga River, Dhaka, along with its metropolitan area, had a population of over 15 million in 2010, making it the largest city...
sent an observer to his trial.
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
Bangladesh Nationalist Party
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party , commonly referred to as the BNP, is the mainstream center-right political party in Bangladesh. BNP ruled Bangladesh total 18 years since her independence, the longest than any other party in Bangladesh...
(BNP). Wall Street Journal
On 18 March 2008, members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) abducted Choudhury from his office at gun point. He was blind folded and taken to RAB office. In the late hours, Choudhury was released. Series of written complaints were sent with the military controlled interim government on this incident, but no action was ever taken by the Bangladesh authorities against the RAB men. CFP; Assam Tribune
The same month, the military-controlled interim government withdrew police protection from Choudhury's residence..
On 22 February 2009, armed thugs belonging to ruling Bangladesh Awami League
Bangladesh Awami League
The Bangladesh Awami League , commonly known as the Awami League, is the mainstream center-left, secular political party in Bangladesh...
entered Choudhury's office, ransacked the entire office and physically assaulted him and other members of the Weekly Blitz newspaper. Although a specific case was already lodged with the police station on the day of occurrence, there is no action yet by the law enforcing agencies against the culprits who are sheltered by the ruling party. http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/8699CFP;
Treason Charges
Choudhury is facing charges of seditionSedition
In law, sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority to tend toward insurrection against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent to lawful authority. Sedition may include any...
, treason
Treason
In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
, blasphemy
Blasphemy
Blasphemy is irreverence towards religious or holy persons or things. Some countries have laws to punish blasphemy, while others have laws to give recourse to those who are offended by blasphemy...
and espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
since January 2004 for having tried to attend a conference of the Hebrew Writers' Association in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
. He violated the Passport
Passport
A passport is a document, issued by a national government, which certifies, for the purpose of international travel, the identity and nationality of its holder. The elements of identity are name, date of birth, sex, and place of birth....
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. It may be mentioned here that Bangladesh currently does not have diplomatic relations with Taiwan and Israel. However, the travel ban on Taiwan was silently lifted while people started business with Taiwan in spite of the travel ban. On 29 November he was taken into police custody 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
Glaucoma
Glaucoma is an eye disorder in which the optic nerve suffers damage, permanently damaging vision in the affected eye and progressing to complete blindness if untreated. It is often, but not always, associated with increased pressure of the fluid in the eye...
. On intervention of U.S. Congressman Mark Kirk
Mark Kirk
Mark Steven Kirk is the junior United States Senator from Illinois and a member of the Republican Party. Previously, Kirk was a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Illinois's 10th congressional district....
, who spoke to Bangladesh's ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
to the U.S., Choudhury's was released on bail
Bail
Traditionally, bail is some form of property deposited or pledged to a court to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail...
, though the charges were not dropped.
Weekly Blitz
He is the editor of Weekly Blitz www.weeklyblitz.net, the most influential anti-Jihadist newspaper in Bangladesh, and editor-in-chief of vernacular weekly Jamjamat. He also is the editor of Daily Frontline.Choudhury's articles appear in various international press on a regular basis. He also is considered to be an expert on topics such as Islamist militancy and extensively works on finding root cause of Jihad . He is also invited by many reputed institutions around the world as a Speaker to give lecture on such topics as Islamist millitancy, jihad, and Hate Speech and Political Islam.
Hudson Institute; Hudson Institute; Countercurrent; Sri Lanka Guardian; American Chronicle
Views on Islam
Choudhury rejects the assertion by Geert WildersGeert Wilders
Geert Wilders is a Dutch right-wing politician and leader of the Party for Freedom , the third-largest political party in the Netherlands. He is the Parliamentary group leader of his party in the Dutch House of Representatives...
that there are moderate Muslims, but no moderate Islam. "My Islam derives from the Koran. This teaches that Muslims, Jews and Christians will all be rewarded for good deeds and punished for evil," he has said.
Arrest
Choudhury was arrested on November 29, 2003 at Dhaka airport. The following is the news report. from The Daily StarThe Daily Star (Bangladesh)
The Daily Star is the largest circulating English daily newspaper in Bangladesh. Established by Syed Mohammed Ali in 14 January 1991, the newspaper is owned by Mediastar a venture of the Transcom Group, headed by Latifur Rahman...
, the leading English language daily in Bangladesh:
A man was arrested at Shahjalal International Airport yesterday morning on his way to Tel AvivTel AvivTel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
for his alleged MossadMossadThe Mossad , short for HaMossad leModi'in uleTafkidim Meyuchadim , is the national intelligence agency of Israel....
connection.
A leader of Bangladesh chapter of ‘Iflaq’, a HaifaHaifaHaifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
-based organisation, Salauddin Shoib Chowdhury was carrying compact discCompact DiscThe Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
s (CD's) 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 Shahjalal immigration officials apprehended him at the immigration counter minutes before he was to leave for BangkokBangkokBangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
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 officerPolice officerA police officer is a warranted employee of a police force...
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 1 December", the police officer added.
It was however learnt that Shoaib’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 IsraelIsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, a country Bangladeshi citizens are barred from travelling to," he said.
After release from 17-months imprisonment, Choudhury wrote in an Israeli newspaper "I also stand before you perhaps as a living contradiction: a Zionist, a defender of Israel, and a devout, practicing Muslim, living in a Moslem country." He said "I believe in the justice of the Zionist dream. I also acknowledge this historical reality: that the world has endeavored to crush that dream and, yes, even to destroy the viability of the Jewish people. At the same time, I live in an environment where people believe just as passionately in an opposing view—one that sees Israel as illegitimate; and the Jewish people as evil incarnate."
Choudhury's father Ghulam Ather Choudhuri died on 29 March 2003, while his mother Sharifa Choudhury died on 9 August 2005. Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury was in prison when his mother died. The then government in Bangladesh refused petition by his family for him to attend his mother's funeral Ref: http://jewishvoiceandopinion.com/pdf/200708.pdf.
Inqilab Television
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 InqilabDaily Inqilab
Inqilab is a major daily newspaper in Bangladesh, published from Dhaka in the Bengali language....
. 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. In first court appearance, Choudhury claimed that his arrest was motivated by the financial dispute over his ownership stake in Inqilab Television.
Support for Choudhury
The campaign to get the government of Bangladesh to drop all charges against Choudhury is being led by Dr. Richard Benkin. Benkin, like Choudhury, is an Advisory Board Member of Islam-Israel Fellowship. Dr. Benkin and Choudhury together formed Interfaith Strength to disseminate information about Choudhury's case. On September 6, 2005 Dr. Richard Benkin registered as a foreign agent with the US Department of JusticeUnited States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
, under the Foreign Agents Registration Act
Foreign Agents Registration Act
The Foreign Agents Registration Act is a United States law passed in 1938 requiring that agents representing the interests of foreign powers be properly identified to the American public. The act was passed in response to German propaganda in the lead-up to World War II...
(FARA). 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. Benkin's decision was made in response to initially positive actions by the Bangladeshi government with respect to Choudhury as well as human rights issues. When it became clear to him, however, that these moves by the BNP government were only perfunctory, he ceased working with the government after only one month. Benkin refers to Babar as one of many sources of information about the Choudhury case in a few newspaper articles of that period. Although those who have been trying to cover up the Bangladeshi government's role in persecuting Choudhury (especially leftists related to the then-opposition Awami League, a left-center party) have tried to make much of Benkin's former relationship with the Bangladeshi government, they have failed to convince anyone that it has any bearing on the case.
In 2008, Kazi Aiz, a fundamentalist Muslim and an official of an Islamic organization, Khalefat Andolin Bangladesh [KAB], has publicly sided with Choudhury, calling the charges against him "false" and called on the Bangladeshi government to end its ban on travel to Israel.
US House Resolution 64
On February 15, 2007, House Resolution 64 passed the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs without opposition. The resolution, introduced by Representatives Mark KirkMark Kirk
Mark Steven Kirk is the junior United States Senator from Illinois and a member of the Republican Party. Previously, Kirk was a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Illinois's 10th congressional district....
(R-IL) and Nita Lowey
Nita Lowey
Nita Melnikoff Lowey is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1993. She is a member of the Democratic Party. She previously represented the 20th district from 1989 to 1993.-Early life, education and career:...
(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 13 March 2007 and the resolution passed by a vote of 409 to 1 with 4 members voting present.
Impact
Choudhury and the Weekly Blitz have influenced government policy and popular opinion in Bangladesh. The articles have prompted the Bangladeshi government to ban the Islamist group Hizb-ut Tahrir and the antisemitic publication DajjalDajjal
al-Masih ad-Dajjal , is an evil figure in Islamic eschatology. He is to appear pretending to be Masih at a time in the future, before Yawm al-Qiyamah , directly comparable to the figures of the Antichrist and Armilus in Christian and Jewish eschatology, respectively.-Name: is a common Arabic word ...
, which is published by another notorious Islamist militancy group named Hizbut Towhid. A campaign against Muslim supremacist Zakir Naik
Zakir Naik
Zakir Abdul Karim Naik is an Indian public speaker on the subject of Islam and comparative religion. He is the founder and president of the Islamic Research Foundation , a non-profit organization that owns the Peace TV channel based in Dubai, UAE. He is sometimes referred to as a televangelist...
led Britain and Canada to refuse him entry.
External links
- An Interview with Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury: Will America Act to Save One Courageous Man's Life?, The New York Sun, November 10, 2006
- Pro-Israeli editor beaten in Bangladesh by Michael Freund, The Jerusalem PostThe Jerusalem PostThe Jerusalem Post is an Israeli daily English-language broadsheet newspaper, founded on December 1, 1932 by Gershon Agron as The Palestine Post. The daily readership numbers do not approach those of the major Hebrew newspapers....
, October 17, 2006 - Interfaith Strength, website run by Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury and Dr. Richard L. Benkin
- Rendezvous With Israeli Peace Writer: Prof. Ada Aharoni by S. Choudhury, The Weekly Blitz, reprinted by the International Forum for the Literature and Culture of Peace
- President Iajuddin Ahmed: Restore Faith in Bangladesh Justice, Drop Choudhury Case by R. L. Benkin, "The Weekly Blitz", October 31, 2006
- BANGLADESHI SUFFERS FOR ADVOCATING ISRAEL TIES By Larry Luxner, JTA via Canadian Jewish News, January 2, 2007
- http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/4507
- http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1246443852664&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull
- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/salah-uddin-shoaib-choudhury
- http://www.yale.edu/yiisa/shoaibchoudhurypaper102909.pdf
- http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/118558
- http://www.californiachronicle.com/articles/view/119746
- http://www.californiachronicle.com/articles/view/116880
- http://www.losangeleschronicle.com/articles/view/119744