|
On October 21, 2008, Dr. Alamgir was freed on bail. We thank all of you around the world for your strong support. Basically, the Bangladesh Supreme Court upheld the High Court's verdict to grant Dr. Alamgir bail--confirming bail as a fundamental legal right--despite the military-led caretaker government's relentless efforts to keep him imprisoned. The government's final move was to intimidate individual judges to reconsider the ruling, but the judges remained firm. And so, Dr. Alamgir walked out, to the embrace of hundreds who were waiting to greet him outside the prison cell. The Fight for Rights Isn't Over Upon its failure to deep Dr. Alamgir detained, the military-led caretaker government of Bangladesh has begun the persecution of his family. It has filed false charges against his wife and his two sons, who do not even live in Bangladesh, for supposedly aiding and abetting him on "corruption" and for not cooperating with the military regime. The gov't promptly issued arrest warrants against them and began a trial in absentia in a summary tribunal. The real reason behind the govt's persecution of the family remains the same: they have been vocal against the trampling of human rights by Bangladesh's government. Countrywide, the fate of almost half-a-million, mostly political activitists, detained by this government remains unclear. Some of them have been released after being forced to strike bargains with the government. Most languish in prisons and detention centers without any real legal recourse. Fundamental rights in the country remain suspended, and a state of emergency is still in force. Dr. Alamgir's Conviction Dr. Alamgir is a development economist and former state minister of planning in Bangladesh. He has played a highly vocal role against authoritarian regimes in Bangladesh. Seeing his organizational skills and outspoken nature as a potential threat, Bangladesh's military-led government arrested him soon after taking over power in January 2007. The government kept Dr. Alamgir in solitary confinement and without bail for many months since early 2007. The goal has been to silence him and force him out of politics. In addition, some in the military bear a particular grudge against him because he led and drafted the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Treaty, which ended a decades long insurgency in tribal areas. Continuity of the insurgency was highly lucrative for the military. During his detention, the military intelligence services questioned him at length about his motivations for crafting this peace treaty. For his vocal and progressive politics, Dr. Alamgir was detained and tortured before, in 2002, by the BNP (a center-right party) administration in Bangladesh. Pressure from many human rights organizations and conscientious people from around the world eventually helped secure his freedom. This time the government set up a summary tribunal, which promptly sentenced Dr. Alamgir to 13 years in prison for having a "discrepancy" in a wealth statement that he was forced to write in jail without access to any documents or lawyers, and with all fundamental rights in the country suspended. In addition, the government is seizing his house and assets, including assets of his family members, in order to deny him livelihood. The charges and the trial were sham, marked by gross violations of all due legal process. His fight to overturn all the charges against him will continue, as will the broader struggle to restore fundamental rights and democratic governance in Bangladesh. |
