Humanist Shahriar Kabir Arrested Again<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Well known Bangladeshi journalist and human rights activist Shahriar Kabir has once again been arrested by the Government of Bangladesh headed by Begum Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh National Party in December 2002. Shahriyar Kabir heads the Nirmul Committee which demands the trial and punishment of those accused of genocide during the Bangladesh War of Independence in 1971, likely to implicate many partners of the present government.

Shahriyar Kabir was first arrested in November 2001 when the Government charged him with sedition and accused him of tarnishing the image of the government because he was investigating murderous attacks on the Hindu minority and was recording evidence given by survivors. He was later released on bail. His second arrest along with teacher-activist Professor Muntassir Mamoons was declared illegal by a Division Bench of the Bangladesh High Court on 4 January 2003.

Defying the High Court judgment that Shahriyar Kabir’s arrest was illegal under Section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure which allows the police to detain people without an arrest warrant, the government has extended his detention by 90 days using the much misused, draconian Special Powers Act. As we go to press, the pressure on the Bangladesh Government to release the two human rights activists is mounting.

Shahriyar Kabir visited IHEU Headquarters in 2002 when he travelled to Europe to research at the International Institute for Social History. When Babu Gogineni asked if he felt safe going back to Bangladesh, he responded: “”Yes, it has been suggested I should not return to Bangladesh and that I should bring my immediate family out of the country. But what about my family of millions of Bangladeshis who are in the country and suffering?”

IHEU has issued a widely circulated statement, and will take up the matter at the international institutions through its representatives.

Please send letters of protest (with a copy to IHEU) to:Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, Gona Bhaban, Sher-e Bangla Nagar, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Fax: + 880 2 811 3243