UPDATE ON SHOAIB’S ENDLESS TRIAL
From: InterfaithStrength.com
Shoaib was back in court on February 18. Was what transpired new and promising or more of the same? Well, both. The new presiding judge, Mohammed Boshir Ullah asked the Public Prosecutor why the case was brought in the first place. Before he could answer, however, one of Shoaib’s longtime attorneys, Advocate Govinda Chandra Promanik, answered that the former BNP government brought the charge because Shoaib forecasted the rise of Islamist radicals in Bangladesh. “My client is a well known journalist in Bangladesh defending human rights and rights of religious minorities as well as promoting culture of peace,” he added.
The judge responded that Shoaib should be “rewarded” and not “harssed” for exposing the radicals.
Great, huh? But immediately after that, he set March 31 as the next court date “to hear witnesses”; that is, to maintain the status quo and the charges against Shoaib Choudhury. Does that sound like a reward? It is possible that the judge’s words signal a new attitude on the part of the recently elected Awami League government, but his actions indicate just the opposite. Are we to conclude that Awami is no different than the caretaker/military or the BNP? In the same vein, the government is still refusing to issue a visa allowing me into the country so I can see Shoaib and advocate for him. That makes four times out of my last five attempts, if anyone’s counting.
What are we to make of these confusing signals? Pretty much what we have concluded before: that the only measure of the Bangladeshis’ sincerity is ACTION; and they have taken some positive action in this case over the past several years, just not enough for us to consider Bangladesh a nation of laws.