BOYCOTT BANGLADESH

Shoaib is back in court. The trial began on August 6, 2008 and continued on the next day. As you may know by now, on Thursday Shoaib’s lawyers cross-examined the plaintiff in this case, Mohammed Abdul Hanif, former officer-in-charge of Airport Police Station. Shoaib will need to return to court on August 31st and September 1st, 2008 for cross-examination. There are 20 witnesses against Shoaib, all planted by the government.

Generally, Shoaib must appear in court by 9:00am and stay till 4:00 – 5:00pm. The accused are not allowed to sit in the courtrooms, thus are forced to stand for hours and sweat in the extremely hot weather. There is no fan at the waiting portion of the courtrooms. Moreover, Shoaib is not allowed to drink water or eat anything all day.

On Wednesday, when Shoaib went to court, he had high fever, a severe headache and pain in other parts of his body. So he went inside the courtroom and sat at a back bench which is designated for members of press (Shoaib is a journalist). But the Additional Public Prosecutor, after seeing Shoaib seated, asked the police to remove him from the courtroom. He also mocked Shoaib and joked about him.

As you know, Shoaib is facing sedition, treason and blasphemy charges with which he was charged on December 24, 2004 (he was arrested on November 29, 2003). The charge was framed by the court on November 13, 2006, at which time the judge made the following statement:

“I, Md. Momin Ullah, Metropolitan Session Judge do here by accuse you Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury for the following reasons:

The State Prosecution has brought allegation against you, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury stating that, being the editor and owner of Blitz newspaper, you sent an article titled ‘Hello Tel Aviv’ to USA Today newspaper published from Washington. Furthermore, in 2003, while attempting to travel to Israel to attend a conference titled ‘Education Towards Culture of Peace, organized between 1st December to 3rd December 2003, you appeared at the Zia International Airport on the 29th November 2003 and the Immigration police arrested you and found the copy of the speech you prepared to deliver in the conference. In that speech, you have made offensive comments on Muslim world, Islam and Muslims in Bangladesh and commented about existence of Al Qaeda and other Islamist militant groups, by which you have tarnished the image of Bangladesh in the outside world. Furthermore, you have made conspiracy of spreading anti-state news through that speech and you by sending that speech to outside world, you have played offensive role to Bangladesh’s security, public discipline and adverse role towards Bangladesh’s relations with the outside world. In you report, you have mentioned about guerilla training in the Bangladeshi madrassas, by which you have influenced the religious sentiments and made imaginary stories abroad about jihadist training in favor of Laden, Arafat and Saddam, by which you have put Bangladesh’s foreign relations to threat and through this you have caused offense under Penal Code Section 505 (A), 295 (A) and 120 (B).

The allegations were read before the accused and he claimed to be innocent (not guilty) and prayed for justice.

Md. Momin Ullah
Metropolitan Session Judge”

Please note that although the judge refers to an article titled ‘Hello Tel Aviv’ which was reportedly published in USA Today, such article doesn’t exist. Moreover, Shoaib never wrote any article for USA Today. The entire case is based on mere imagination of the police, investigating officer and the Bangladeshi terrorist authorities. The main reason behind their anger is that Shoaib is promoting interfaith understanding, demanding relations between Bangladesh and Israel, and confronting radical Islam as well as Holocaust Deniers.

The trial will likely conclude in the next 2-3 months. If the judge will convict Shoaib, Section 120 (Sedition) entails the death penalty. On the other hand, the judge may convict Shoaib for a life term or for several years.

Weekly Blitz, of which Shoaib is owner and publisher, is the only Zionist newspaper in the Muslim world (www.weeklyblitz.net). It will continue its mission. Because of its editorial policy confronting radical Islam and culture of Jihad, local businessmen refrain from advertising in Blitz. But, some of Shoaib’s friends abroad occasionally support his newspaper through advertisement. If you can, please buy an ad at www.weeklyblitz.net .

BUYERS OF BANGLADESHI GOODS AND SERVICES:

UNITED STATES:

H. Lee Scott, Jr.
President and Chief Executive Officer
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
702 S.W. 8th Street
Bentonville, Arkansas 72716
USA
Phone: 479-273-4000

Bob Walton
Chairman
Board of Directors
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
702 S.W. 8th Street
Bentonville, Arkansas 72716
USA
Phone: 479-273-4000

Glenn K. Murphy
Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer
Gap, Inc.
Two Folsom Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
USA
Phone: 650-952-4400

Philip H. Knight
Chairman of the Board of Directors
Nike World Headquarters
One Bowerman Drive
Beaverton, OR 97005-6453
USA
Phone: 1-800-344-6453

Mark Parker, President & Chief Executive Officer
Nike, Inc.
One Bowerman Drive
Beaverton, OR 97005-6453
USA
Phone: 1-800-344-6453

Mackey J. McDonald
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
VF Corporation
105 Corporate Center Blvd.
Greensboro NC 27408
USA
Phone: 336-424-6000

Eric C. Wiseman
President and Chief Operating Officer
VF Corporation
105 Corporate Center Blvd.
Greensboro NC 27408
USA
Phone: 336-424-6000

Emanuel Chirico
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation
200 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10016
USA
Phone: 212-381-3500

This entry was posted on Monday, August 11th, 2008 at 12:59 pm and is filed under Human and Religious Rights. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.