The last time I wrote about Bangladeshi journalist Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury on this blog, all was good. Or at least better. After being detained 17 months in a Bangladeshi jail, after over a year and a half of prison abuse as well as threats to and attacks on his family, Choudhury was released on bail. This was largely due to the tireless efforts of US Congressman Mark Kirk (R-IL) and activist Dr. Richard Benkin.
But now things have taken a bad turn for the worse. Choudhury's trial is scheduled for next week, and he faces a potential death penalty. The new judge assigned to the case (a member of the radical Islamist group Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh) appears determined to throw the book at him, and he's being pressured in various ways to abdicate his rights and weaken his own defense.
Choudhury's crime, by the way: promoting interfaith dialogue and ending religious hatred or, in his own words, "Being a living contradiction: a Zionist and a devout Muslim living in Bangladesh, the world's second-largest Muslim country."
On Tuesday, OneJerusalem sponsored a bloggers' teleconference with Yehudit Barsky of the American Jewish Committee in an attempt to publicize this outrage and solicit support for Choudhury (audio here). It's apparently a tough sell. Since I first heard about Choudhury's arrest, I've been amazed at the lack of public attention given to his case. In reporting on the conference call, Mere Rhetoric lays it on the line:
Mr. Choudhury IS the moderate Muslim that the Bush administration swears is the true face of Islam. He's the vocal dissident that every single right of center blog swears they're desperate to hear from and ally with. Now our unilaterally-declared ally (declared by us) is fighting for his life against representatives of the most pathological and vicious strains of a religious ideology that is bringing the planet to the abyss of nuclear conflict. We try to avoid hysteria or hand-wringing on this blog, but it's not an exaggeration to say that Bangladesh's fate as a secular democracy hangs in the balance. How it tips will be based largely on the amount of pressure that the West brings to bear to ensure Mr. Choudhury's human rights. We've all been saying for years that we'll support moderate Muslims when they stand up to Islamofascist thugs. The world will be watching to see how much that support is worth.
So where is President Bush on this? Why have only three members of Congress (Kirk has been joined by Congressmen Joseph Crowley (D-NY) and Peter King (R-NY) ) come out swinging? And where are the cries of outrage and protest from all of those other moderate Muslims we keep hearing about? Let alone the mainstream media. A Google news search today for "Shoaib Choudhury" reveals a total of five hits. One of the them is Jawa Report. Another is the Jerusalem Post. And a third is the Israel Hasbara Committee.
Pathetic.
Please help. Don't put it off. Here is the contact information that will do the most direct good. But if you have time, please also get the word out however you can, by blog or email, by letter or phone call. Much more than a good man's life hangs in the balance here. As if that wasn't enough.
1. Contact the Bangladeshi Ambassador to the U.S. Shamsher M. Choudhury at bdootwash@bangladoot.org or at 202-244-0183 and let him know that such behavior is unacceptable from "an ally of the U.S. in the war on terror." Bangladesh is currently the recipient of U.S. aid dollars and the government of Bangladesh needs to know that U.S. citizens will not stand for such behavior.2. Contact Congressman Mark Kirk of Illinois to thank him for championing the cause of Mr. Choudhury. Congressman Kirk was able to secure Mr. Choudhury's release from prison once before after threatening to withhold U.S. aid to Bangladesh and his efforts to stop this severe human rights abuse should be encouraged.
