Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is the Editor and Publisher of “Weekly Blitz,” the largest tabloid English-language weekly in Bangladesh. His resume lists the “Courageous Journalism Award” in 2005 from Bangladesh Lokgeeti Shipi Goshthi, the “Freedom to Write Award” in 2005 from PEN USA (his acceptance speech is here), and the “Moral Courage Award” in 2006 from the American Jewish Committee (AJC).
Currently Choudhury faces charges of sedition, a crime punishable by death in Bangladesh. Here is how AJC President David A. Harris described his situation in his speech awarding Choudhury his award earlier this year:
He stands accused of wanting to visit Israel, a country with which Bangladesh has no diplomatic ties. He faces the death penalty if he is convicted. . . .
Since his launch of Blitz several years ago, Mr. Choudhury has become a vocal opponent of Islamic radicals in his country. He denounced the establishment of kindergarten madrassas where the students have been indoctrinated with Wahhabi teachings promoted by Saudi Arabia that demonize Jews and Christians. . . .
[In 2003], [h]e came upon the website of the Jerusalem Post, and initiated a correspondence with the editorial page editor.
In May of that year he wrote an article in the Post advocating that peace with Israel is in the best interests of Bangladesh. . . . Israeli professor Dr. Ada Aharoni also read Mr. Choudhury’s article, and she invited him to deliver a lecture at the International Forum for Literature and Culture of Peace in November 2003 in Israel. He never delivered his speech.
As Mr. Choudhury was about to board his plane in Dhaka, he was arrested and his passport was confiscated. He was told that his intention to visit Israel was a violation of Bangladeshi law and he was immediately imprisoned. In February 2004 he was accused of espionage and charged with sedition. . . . As the result of the tireless efforts of Dr. Richard Benkin and the intervention of Congressman Mark Kirk, Mr. Choudhury was freed from prison on April 30, 2005. He is to be tried for sedition later this month.
Today Bangladesh has become an outpost for Islamic extremist and jihadist activity, and two parties that support the Taliban and Al-Qa’ida are members of the governing coalition. Journalists who are critical of Islamic extremist groups are regularly harassed and receive death threats.
The New York Times describes Mr. Choudhury as a man who "has a rare virtue: he champions dialogue and decency in a culture hemmed in by extremism and corruption."
One Jerusalem organized a bloggers call today about Choudhury’s situation with Yehudit Barsky, director of the AJC’s Division on Middle East and International Terrorism. She holds a master’s degree in international relations and Near Eastern studies from NYU, is the author of reports on Hamas and Hezbollah, is fluent in Arabic and Hebrew, and made an impressive presentation today. You can listen to it at One Jerusalem’s site.
To lodge a protest, you can email the Bangladesh Ambassador to the U.S. (Shamsher M. Chowdhury) at info@bangladoot.org and/or the Bangladesh Ambassador to the U.N. (H.E. Dr. Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury) at bangladesh@un.int. You can also call the State Department and demand that the U.S. lend its weight to stop the prosecution of an important voice for moderation in the Muslim world: U.S. State Department, Bangladesh Desk, at 202-647-9552.
UPDATE: As usual, Omri Ceren has said it much better than I:
“These individual cases, one by one and man by man, will be one of a variety of tests that the West will face in coming years. 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. “
But read the whole thing. The West could have stopped a lot if it had stood up at the time of Salman Rushdie (see Anne Lieberman’s remarkable post today). This is that rarest of things, which we prayed for all yesterday — a second chance.
One Jerusalem has posted the phone number of the Bangladesh Ambassador to the United States: 202-244-0183.
UPDATE II: The following email was received today from Salah Choudhury (email address salahuddinshoaibchoudhury@yahoo.com) (bolding and links added).
Dear Mr. Rick Richman:
Possibly you are already aware that Chicago Tribune published an article on my issue on October 2, 2006. Kindly visit www.interfaithstrength.com [here] for more details. You may also kindly contact my Jewish brother Dr. Richard L. Benkin at: drrbenkin@comcast.net to know even more.
Thanks for your very kind efforts and precious support.
Shoaib