To: The Honorable Antony J. Blinken
Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
The Honorable Janet Yellen
Secretary of the Treasury
U.S. Department of the Treasury
1500 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20220
August 22, 2024
Request For Legal Action And/ Or Sanctions Against Sajeeb Wazed Joy, A Resident Of The United States Of America
Dear Secretary Blinken and Secretary Yellen,
The Coalition for Human Rights & Democracy in Bangladesh (CHRD Bangladesh) would like to bring serious legal and security concerns to your kind attention regarding Sajeeb Wazed, the son of the former Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina. Mr. Wazed is a resident of the United States.
Sheikh Hasina Wazed was deposed by a student-people uprising on August 5, 2024. She has found a safe haven in neighboring India, her backer for the past 20 years of her combined rule. Sajeeb Wazed, a member of his mother’s Bangladesh Awami League, served as the Information and Communication Technology Advisor.
- In his former role, Mr. Wazed is believed to be the architect behind the notorious Digital Security Act (DSA), which penalized anyone criticizing the authoritarian Sheikh Hasina administration or the ruling family. Even a parody line on a ruling family member sent people, including minors, to jail under this Act. Some succumbed to torture under custody. There has been a global outcry against the DSA and its misuse.
2. Mr. Wazed was believed to be behind the 7-year sentence to senior journalists Shefiq Rehman and Mahmudur Rahman on false accusation of trying to kidnap him in the US in 2011.
3. In April 2016, Legal Journalist David Bergman reported in The Wire that a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) of $300 million was recorded against Sajeeb Wazed by the FBI. (Ref:https://web.archive.org/web/20160424232130/http://thewire.in/2016/04/20/exclusive-us-court-dismissed-claim-of-plot-to-injure-bangladesh-pm-son-30447/)
4. Sajeeb Wazed unsuccessfully tried to implicate Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus in an “improper use” of Norwegian Government funds for the Nobel and Professor Yunus’ Grameen Bank. The allegation was dismissed by Norway. Professor Yunus now heads the Interim Government of Bangladesh.
5. Mr. Wazed wrongly accused UN Rapporteurs of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance (WGEID) and the notable Bangladeshi human rights organization Odhikar for misinformation on human rights violations and enforced disappearances in Bangladesh under his mother, Sheikh Hasina. In 2021, the United States imposed sanctions against the draconian Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and its top officials for serious human rights violations, including enforced disappearances.
6. According to Global Defense Corp, Sajeeb Wazed has been said to be involved, along with his mother Sheikh Hasina and cousin Tulip Siddiq, a lawmaker in the UK, in the embezzlement of $5 billion from a nuclear power plant in Bangladesh built by Russia (Reported by Global Defense Corporation). https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/355474/rooppur-nuclear-power-plant-separating-fact-from
7. During the last days of the oppressive regime of the autocrat Sheikh Hasina (July/August 2024), grave massacres of protesting students were committed by Hasina’s forces under enforced darkness and media blackouts in the country. Sajeeb Wazed, as the Information and Communication Technology Advisor, clearly had knowledge at the very least of these grave human rights violations which claimed hundreds or perhaps over a thousand lives and wounded thousands, including minors.
Since the ouster of Sheikh Hasina early this month, Sajeeb Wazed has launched new campaigns to destabilize the political situation in Bangladesh.
1. First, it is alleged that he, along with a few close associates, tried to stage a judicial coup. On August 11, 2024, the country’s Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan and a few other top judges wanted to declare the Interim Government headed by Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus “illegal and invalid”, further declaring that Sheikh Hasina still remained the Prime Minister of the country, thereby creating civil unrest.
2. After Sheikh Hasina’s departure to India on August 5, 2024, an artificial sectarian disturbance was created by vested groups. Credible sources state that Sajeeb Wazed was involved in once again attempting to destabilize Bangladesh with the possible aid of the Indian media and authorities. Most reports of these incidents were proven to be propaganda and falsified. A few incidents were staged by vested groups to demonstrate an artificial unrest in the country following Hasina’s exit.
The Coalition for Human Rights & Democracy in Bangladesh (CHRD Bangladesh) believes strongly that Sajeeb Wazed is a serious security threat, not only for Bangladesh but also for the United States. These two countries maintain strong bilateral ties and partnerships and the United States has extended full support to the new Yunus administration.
As such, CHRD Bangladesh urges you to kindly investigate and take appropriate action regarding this matter.
Sincerely,
Zoglul Husain
President CHRD Bangladesh
&
Sabria Balland
Vice President & Secretary CHRD Bangladesh
*The Coalition for Human Rights& Democracy in Bangladesh is a human rights organization based and registered in the United States (www.chrdbangladesh.org)
August 24, 2024
