The mock “kangaroo” courts of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina keep victimizing innocent people on fictitious and unfounded grounds. The latest victims are two senior, respected journalists of the country along with three other journalists.
Mahmudur Rahman (70), of Amar Desh and Shafik Rehman (89) of the Jai Jai Din, and three others received a seven-year prison sentence by a Dhaka court for “conspiracy to kidnap and murder Sajeeb Wazed Joy,” son of Sheikh Hasina. However, their real “crime” was their involvement with the politics of the opposing Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). They were vocal against the wrongdoings of Sheikh Hasina’s fascist regime, particularly those of the ruling family.
Mahmudur Rahman had earlier suffered years in arbitrary detention without charge, as well as physical assaults in the courts for exposing the corruption of Sajeeb Wazed Joy in the energy sector. The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (FIDH) said that his detention was “for simply exercising his rights to free expression.” Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) added, “The cases mounted against Mahmudur Rahman were a clear example of judicial harassment.”
Both the senior journalists now live abroad fearing for the safety of their lives back home. They are not active in politics. (Please see the report https://www.tbsnews.net/bangladesh/crime/five-jailed-seven-years-over-conspiracy-murder-sajeeb-wazed-joy-us-684150)
The case was filed by Sajeeb Wazed Joy in 2015. He absurdly alleged that the two journalists attempted to kidnap and murder him in the United States where he lives. The alleged conspirators lived in Bangladesh. A fictitious alibi on the case was created against Mizanur Rahmaan Bhuiyan, a US businessman, perhaps connected with BNP politics. Amnesty International (AI) continued to follow and criticize this political victimization by the Hasina regime.
According to the BNP, more than 1,500 of their members have been killed, more than 600 became victims of extrajudicial murders and unlawful abductions, and 100,000 have been thrown in crowded jails, while 4 million face fictitious and false cases. The combined opposition number would be much more.
The Coalition for Human Rights & Democracy in Bangladesh strongly condemns this political victimization of Mahmudur Rahman and Shafik Rehman, both respected journalists of Bangladesh by the authoritarian administration in Bangladesh and demands the urgent dismissal of the case. CHRD Bangladesh also urges authorities to desist from such judicial harassment and victimization for no legal faults of the victims.
*CHRD Bangladesh is a nonprofit organization registered and based in the United States (www.chrdbangladesh.org)
August 19, 2023
