H.E. Khaleda Zia
Prime Minister
Old Sangshad Bhaban
Prime Minister’s Secretariat
Tejgaon, Dhaka
People’s Republic of Bangladesh
Fax: (011.8802) 81-32-43/ 44
Your Excellency:
The Overseas Press Club of America (OPC) is dismayed at the recent record of threats, abuses and actual assassination directed at journalists in Bangladesh. Since our last letter little more than a month ago, the Committee to Protect Journalists has reported that at least 24 journalists and writers in Bangladesh have received death threats from Islamic groups that accuse them of being “enemies of Islam” or “acting against Islam.” And on June 27, Humayun Kabir Balu, editor of the weekly, Dainik Janmabhumi, in the city of Khulna, was murdered by a man posing as a peanut vendor who threw two bombs at him as he got out of his car in front of the newspaper@quot;s offices. As in the case of Manik Shaha, a journalist also killed with a bomb
in Khulna last January, the Janajuddha faction of the Maoist Purba Bangla party claimed responsibility for the killing. Humayun Kabir Balu is the ninth journalist killed in Bangladesh in the past seven years.
Journalists can take no comfort in official support from your government. As we complained in
our last letter, police have stood by as journalists were attacked while trying to cover street demonstrations, and at least twice have actually joined in the attacks. On June 22, reporter, Mozaffar Rahman, and photographer, Monirul Islam Moni ,of the daily, Patradut, were assaulted
by prison guards at a district jail in the town of Satkhira, apparently in retaliation for an article in another newspaper that accused prison guards of extorting money from visitors. Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, editor and publisher of the tabloid weekly, Blitz, remains in jail under charges of sedition because of articles he wrote that allegedly were critical of Bangladesh. He has been denied release on bail, and despite two orders from the High Court that he be allowed medical treatment, he has not been given treatment for eye problems that may result in glaucoma.
Your Excellency, this appalling record profoundly contravenes Article 19 of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights. At a time when Bangladesh is suffering from terrible flooding and requesting help from the international community, it would surely be appropriate to look to your country@quot;s place in the court of world opinion. We repeat our urgent request that you re-think your basic policy on press freedom, free Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, start an urgent investigation into the most recent murders, and re-assure the journalists of Bangladesh that they will be free to do their vital job without fear or harassment.
Thank you for your attention to these important matters. We await your response.
Respectfully yours,
Larry Martz Norman A. Schorr
Co-chairmen, Freedom of the Press Committee
cc: Syed Hasan Ahmad
Ambassador of Bangladesh to the U.S.A.
Embassy of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh
3510 International Drive, NW
Washington, DC 20007
Fax: (202) 244-5366
Ambassador Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury
Permanent Representative
Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh
to the United Nations
227 East 45th Street, 14th Floor
New York, NY 10017
Fax: (212) 972-4310
Mary Ann Peters
U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh
Embassy of the United States of America
Diplomatic Enclave
G.P.O. Box 323
Dhaka 1000
Bangladesh
Fax: (011.8802) 882-3744
The Editor
Daily Manabzamin
21 Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue
Dhaka 1000
Bangladesh
Fax: (011.8802) 861-8130
The Editor
Daily Star
19 Karwan Bazar
Dhaka 1215
Bangladesh
Fax: (011.8802) 812-5155