On November 14, 2006, Reps. Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Nita Lowey (D-NY) introduced House Resolution 1080 that urges the government of Bangladesh to drop all charges against Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury as well as to cease all other forms of harassment. The next day, The Wall Street Journal ran an editorial in support of the resolution. It is imperative that we pass this bill within the next few weeks-before recesses, holidays, and the impending adjournment of Congress allows this effort to languish. That is where you come in. Working with the Congressional offices, we are lining up Congressional support to pass this resolution by the first week in December at the latest.

We urge every SPME member living in the United States (or American citizens living abroad) to contact their Member of Congress immediately and urge that he or she SUPPORT HOUSE RESOLUTION 1080. Please urge everyone you know to do the same. That way when we contact them, they will know that their constituents are concerned about the issue. If you receive any response, please contact drrbenkin@Comcast.net if at all possible for the information to get o the proper people.

There are two ways to do this. You can contact the member yourself, either through your own contact information or at http://www.visi.com/juan/congress. Or you can go to the American Jewish Committee website at http://www.ajc.org/c.ijITI2PHKoG/b.1122051/k.8A96/Action_Center/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=1122051&aid=7716

If you are not an American, you can help, too, by publicizing the plight of Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury. Journalists and others in Canada, Australia, the UK, Israel, Europe and elsewhere have begun seizing upon this issue. This is an international issue, and the consequences of silence will strengthen the forces that are arrayed against everything all of us cherish. If Shoaib is vindicated and allowed to continue his work, it will embolden other Muslims in the Muslim world to do the same and speak out against those who are threatening their nations and their faith. We actually have been told that by many Muslims watching this case closely.

Please act now and encourage everyone you know to do the same. For more information about this critical issue, you can go to http://www.InterfaithStrength.com.

For three years, we have been fighting the Bangladeshi government’s persecution of pro-Israeli, anti-Islamist Muslim journalist, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury. In 2003, the government arrested and tortured him for his pro-Israeli articles and because he publicized the until then secret Islamist takeover attempt of that country. He has continued to work for those causes and for the cause of real interfaith understanding. In April 2005, with the strong help of Congressman Mark Kirk of Illinois, we were able to free him from prison, which allowed him to begin publishing his weekly paper and continue to bring the Bangladeshis their only unbiased news and opinion about Israel, the Jewish people, and the fight against Muslim extremism.

In September, however, the Bangladeshi government responded to these brave efforts by putting Shoaib on trial for “sedition, treason, and blasphemy.” In the charge against him, it says that “by praising Christians and Jews…and [advocating] ties between Bangladesh and Israel, [Shoaib] has hurt the sentiments of Muslims.” Shoaib is not only fighting for these principles but for the over 25 million Bangladeshis who are not Muslim. Already persecuted, they would be relegated to a formal dhimmi status if the radical judge trying Shoaib and others are successful in making Sharia the law of the land-a goal they have stated again and again. If convicted of these “crimes,” Shoaib could be put to death. But we all can do something about it.

“If not now, when!”