November 30, 2000
Her Excellency Sheikh Hasina
Prime Minister, People's Republic of Bangladesh
Office of the Prime Minister
Dhaka, Bangladesh
VIA FAX: 011-88-02-811-3244
Your Excellency:
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply disturbed by your
administration's multi-pronged attack against the Bengali-language daily
newspaper Inqilab, which has been accused of treason for publishing
a parody of the Bangladesh national anthem.
M. Mainuddin, director of the Inqilab Group of Publications, is currently
in jail under Bangladesh's notorious Special Powers Act. Inqilab editor
A.M.M. Bahauddin and publisher A.S.M. Baki Billah face multiple treason
charges, as does the author of the parody, A.S. Mosharraf. Your government
has exerted considerable pressure on the judiciary to deny these journalists'
petitions for anticipatory bail.
Finally, leaders from the ruling Awami League have actively encouraged
party activists to block distribution of Inqilab throughout the
country, and have sanctioned the use of violence to achieve this end.
Inqilab, which promotes Islamist principles and is opposed to the
secular policies of Your Excellency's government, is one of the highest-circulation
newspapers in Bangladesh. On October 20, the paper published a parody
of the national anthem that mocked your administration.
On November 6, the Awami League Working Committee met at Your Excellency's
residence and decided to take action against Inqilab. Within days,
various Awami League leaders had filed treason charges against Inqilab
in districts around the country. Today, cases are pending in the capital
city of Dhaka, as well as in Jamalpur, Madaripur, Mymensingh, Magura,
and Chandpur. (On November 28, a High Court judge stayed the bulk of these
cases for one month.)
On November 13, the Home Ministry filed its own complaint with the Chief
Metropolitan Magistrate's Court in Dhaka, accusing Bahauddin, Baki Billah,
and Mosharraf of sedition under Section 124A of the Penal Code. Arrest
warrants were issued that same day. Under the Penal Code, people found
guilty of sedition can be sentenced to life in prison, or even death.
Shortly before midnight, police raided the Dhaka offices of Inqilab,
as well as the residences of the paper's editor and publisher, but failed
to find the journalists. But the next morning, on November 14, police
arrested Mainuddin, the head of the Inqilab Group and the brother of Bahauddin
and Baki Billah, under the broad provisions of the Special Powers Act
(SPA), which allows for the arbitrary arrest and detention of any citizen
suspected of engaging in activities that threaten national security. Under
the SPA, detainees can be held for up to three months without a court
hearing, and police are not required to file formal charges against them.
As of today, Mainuddin remains in Dhaka Central Jail.
Bahauddin, fearing imminent arrest, applied for anticipatory bail that
evening. At 11:40 p.m. on November 14, a High Court Division of the Supreme
Court granted ad-interim bail to Bahauddin until November 20, when a second
hearing was scheduled for the government to defend its argument that the
bail application should be denied.
Senior administration officials, including Your Excellency, vehemently
criticized the High Court's action and publicly questioned the propriety
of the unprecedented late-night session. CPJ sources in Bangladesh say
the ruling party has applied pressure on judges and defense lawyers to
dissuade them from supporting Inqilab in this case.
Bahauddin is now free on bail until December 5, and police have made no
further attempts to arrest Baki Billah and Mosharraf. But all three men
remain vulnerable to arrest in the future.
Meanwhile, there have been a series of attacks designed to curb the circulation
of Inqilab. On November 20, Abdul Hasnat Abdullah, an Awami League
official, announced at a meeting organized by party officials in the southern
town of Barisal that Inqilab was banned in the southern region.
The next day, 900 copies of the newspaper were burnt by Awami League activists
in Barisal, according to a report published in The Independent,
a Dhaka-based national daily. Local distributors of the newspaper were
also threatened and harassed.
On November 22, Awami League activists stopped a minibus at the Shikarpur
ferry landing, on the Dhaka-Barisal highway, and burned 4,000 copies of
Inqilab, as well as 400 copies of the weekly Purnima, which
is also published by the Inqilab Group. On November 28, a mob attacked
the Inqilab office in Khulna, damaged a press vehicle parked outside,
and harassed a local newspaper agent for distributing the paper.
As a nonpartisan organization of journalists dedicated to the defense
of press freedom around the world, CPJ condemns your government's persecution
of Inqilab. We respectfully urge you to order the immediate release
of M. Mainuddin, who has been wrongfully detained under a vague and, in
CPJ's view, illegitimate statute. If Mainuddin is suspected of criminal
activity, then the authorities should file formal charges against him
and present evidence in an open court.
CPJ also urges that you instruct the Home Ministry to drop the government-initiated
sedition case against A.M.M. Bahauddin, A.S.M. Baki Billah, and A.S. Mosharraf,
as we believe that no journalist should go to jail for what he or she
writes.
As the leader of the Awami League, Your Excellency is responsible for
ensuring that the party does not countenance abuses committed by its members.
In our view, Bangladesh's national security is threatened far more by
the vigilante tactics detailed above than by the publication of political
satire.
We thank you for your attention to these urgent matters, and await your
response.
Sincerely,
Ann K. Cooper
Executive Director
Send a letter to:
Her Excellency Sheikh Hasina
Prime Minister, People's Republic of Bangladesh
Office of the Prime Minister
Dhaka, Bangladesh
VIA FAX: 011-88-02-811-3244