Shoaib Choudhury's Roller Coaster Ride [UPDATED]

Rabbi Sue Levy provided an update last week on the treason, sedition, and blasphemy trial of the brave Bangladeshi journalist, which looked briefly hopeful and now is shadowed again, despite considerable international and American support.  At the end of her report, you can sign a petition in Choudhury's support at Scholars for Peace in the Middle East.  You can also call your Congressional representative and ask him or her to be present and vote for the resolution asking for the trumped-up charges to be dropped that is scheduled for a House vote next week.

Tough Day in Court for Shoaib Choudhury

Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is really an oncoming train. Friends of Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, and governments supporting him had hoped that the assurances received from the Government of Bangladesh would come true. [On February 28], Bangladesh showed its true face, the one filled with deceit and most often characterized by betrayal of trust.

Shoaib Choudhury, the courageous Muslim journalist who publishes the only pro-Israel newspaper in the Islamic world, is on trial for treason, sedition and blasphemy. He faces these charges because he urges his government to recognize the state of Israel, works for interfaith understanding and writes about the dangers of radical Islam. None of these things are actually crimes according to the criminal code of Bangladesh, but the "justice" (or injustice) system there has an inscrutable logic of its own, one which proves that the system corrupt to its core.

Both the European Union and Australia have passed resolutions asking that the charges against Choudhury be dropped. Two weeks ago, a similar resolution received unanimous approval from the House Committee on Foreign Affairs in our Congress, and it is awaiting a vote on the House Floor where it is assured of passage with a huge majority. Congressman Steve Chabot of Ohio traveled to Bangladesh last week where he met with the Advisor to the Caretaker Government (the present head of state), two former Prime Ministers and Dr. Muhammed Yunus, the winner of last year's Nobel Peace Prize and presented all of them with copies of the resolution. Rep. Chabot received assurances that the charges against Choudhury would be dropped.

The mechanism by which this was to have occurred is a provision in the law of Bangladesh that if prosecution witnesses fail to appear on three consecutive court dates, the case is automatically dismissed. No witnesses appeared for Choudhury's trial date in January, and this was to have been the second such occasion. Instead, two witnesses appeared in court today, ready to testify against him.

Although Judge M. Momin Ullah was absent from court today due to illness, he left written instructions that the trial is to proceed and that witnesses will be heard on March 8th. The framed charges are based on items which include an article praising Israel which Choudhury supposedly wrote and which is, in reality, a figment of the judge's imagination. Every charge against him is spurious, for he has done nothing whatever which might fit the legal definitions of treason, sedition or blasphemy.

The Koran states clearly that Allah (God) gave the land of Israel to the Jewish people. This is the basis for Shoaib Choudhury's advocacy for the Jewish homeland. Although he is a friend of the Jewish people, he has not diverged from his own faith in adopting the positions he holds.

According to the law of Bangladesh, there is no jury in a criminal proceeding, and there are neither witnesses nor evidence presented on behalf of the accused. Therefore, the only opportunity Choudhury's lawyer has to act on his behalf is in cross-examining the prosecution witnesses. The judge has already stated in writing that he sees no reason to acquit Mr. Choudhury. The sentencing options open to him are thirty years in prison or death by hanging.

The individuals and countries around the world who have, thus far, supported Shoaib Choudhury, will now redouble their efforts to save him. It appears likely that someone will remind the Government of Bangladesh that the Members of Congress who vote for the resolution supporting Choudhury are the same ones who make decisions about their foreign aid packages and trade relations.

It remains to be seen what will occur when Shoaib Choudhury appears in court next week. Although he has had reason to feel encouraged recently, this is no longer the case, and it is a time for vigilance on the part of all those who care about human rights.

Rabbi Sue E. Levy
www.rabbibird.com

Scholars for Peace in the Middle East has posted a petition on their website in support of Shoaib Choudhury. I hope you will take a moment to click on this link and sign the petition. One does not need to be a scholar to participate in this endeavor. They have set an ambitious goal of 10,000 signatures. As I write this, they are close to 100 and counting.

House Resolution #64  in support of Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury will be voted upon on either March 12th or March 13th. If you have not already called your representative to ask for his/her support, there is still time to do so by calling (202) 224-3121 and asking for the office of your representative.

Thank you for all that you have done to help this far.

SPME: SPME Petitions

The petition needs 10,000 signatures by April 1.  It currently has over 1200.  It's worth the time to read -- for its concise summary of Choudhury's case -- and to sign, and encourage others to do the same. The climactic paragraph:

Noted international Human Rights attorney, Irwin Cotler, whose clients have included Nelson Mandela and Andrei Sakharov, has identified eight violations o[f] Bangladesh's own law in Choudhury's prosecution. The only way to restore the integrity of Bangladesh is to end this persecution now. In the name of justice, freedom of speech, freedom of passage and of human rights, we join with governments, human rights advocates and other scholars worldwide and ask that this injustice be immediately halted and that all charges against Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury be dropped.

UPDATE: You may have noticed that Rabbi Levy's update in this post, which I published late, mentioned March 8 (yesterday) as the date when the judge had decreed that witnesses would be heard in Shoaib Choudhury's case.  I e-mailed her to ask her what had happened, and it crossed with her group e-mail explaining just that:

Some time ago, Shoaib Choudhury petitioned the High Court to drop the charges against him because the judge in his case has been manufacturing evidence against him. His petition was summarily dismissed, and he is now awaiting a decision on an appeal of that ruling. Because of the matter pending before a higher court, he was successful, on March 8th, in winning a postponement of his trial until March 28th, as it is expected that the appellate court will have ruled by that time.

Shoaib was scheduled to appear in court and was anticipating that two or three prosecution witnesses would be there to testify. Although there are sixteen such witnesses, five were called to appear yesterday, and they were all present. It was at this time that Shoaib's request for postponement was presented.

It is unusual to have five witnesses called in one day. This may indicate that the judge wishes to hear from them only briefly and plans to move the case along as quickly as possible. The judge may issue a verdict at any time after half the witnesses have testified. This means that, if the charges are not dropped, he could be found guilty after only two days of testimony, even though these two days may occur a week or more apart. I'm sure you recall that neither witnesses nor evidence for the defense may be presented. The defense attorney may cross-examine the prosecution witnesses, and that is the only opportunity Shoaib has to attempt any kind of defense. (You may begin singing "God Bless America" now.)

The appellate court proceedings are making this a very expensive proposition for him, and the presence of five witnesses in one day indicates that this may now be a very urgent situation. In spite of this, Shoab is - God only knows how - serene and even optimistic.

All this is occurring against the background of an interim government which is firmly and very rapidly cracking down on corruption in business, the judiciary and among some of the highest ranking members of the former government. Many arrests have been made, and formerly prestigious people are being held without bail. One must wonder why they haven't targeted Judge M. Momin Ullah who is hearing Shoaib's case. Judge Ullah is a member of an illegal Islamist group which strives to install a Taliban-like government in Bangladesh with the shari'ah (Islamic religious law) as the law of the land. Needless to say, he will not have much compassion for a journalist who attacks radical Islam and calls for his government to recognize the State of Israel, not to mention the small matter of Shoaib's claim that the judge is fabricating the entire case based on manufactured evidence. It seems clear that if the trial proceeds it will be a lost cause.

We are still hopeful that the government will respond to increasing international pressure.

 

Comments

[wj]

Members of Congress not only vote on foreign aid (including for Bangladesh) and trade relations. They also, at least potentially, could be voting on steps to combat global warming.

So what? Well if global warming results in a rising sea level, as it seems to be doing, the country impacted first and most, due to being at most a few feet above sea level, will be . . . Bangladesh. Now admittedly Congress has not been rushing to address the issue of global warming. But if Bangladesh expects/wants them to, giving a little thought to how the members will likely react to their opinions being ignored might be in order.

Dropping these trumped-up charges may not encourage Congress to act on an issue of major importance to Bangladesh. But going forward with them will certainly have a negative effect.

[amba]

Superb idea, WJ. (A kind of slow-motion waterboarding of an entire nation??)

[Dr. Ed Beck, SPME]

Thank you for posting and circulating what we hope will be a life saving petition. To learn what else we are doing to promote peace in the Middle East go to www.spme.net and support our efforts. Thank you. Scholars for Peace in the Middle East