http://www.muslimworldtoday.com/benkin.htmSPME VOICES
Author’s note: There are Muslims who want real peace, real justice (not a forced and artificial road map to nowhere). They’re out there, but most are afraid for themselves or their families. Some have come here to the US where they feel safe enough to take a stand–but even here, most have reason to fear the extremists. More of them are asking to work with me to help free my imprisoned friend. We can help bring peace by supporting their branve efforts.
Half a world away, a brave man languishes in prison; his career in tatters, his family threatened and attacked, both of them facing economic disaster. Half a world away, a brave Muslim surveys the tiny cell that has become his home. He represents the true face of Islam, of what it has been and what it can be. It is a face of Islam that does not hate, that does not cry jihad, and does not find a place in the world’s media.
It is the face of Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, a brave man, a man of peace, a Muslim, and a journalist; a man who sits in jail, accused of a capital offense; his freedom denied, and his future uncertain; half a world away. And this is because, his country, his Bangladesh slowly but surely is being seized by radical fundamentalists: deadly, uncompromising, committed to freedom’s destruction-and unchecked by a world too busy to care-half a world away. Most people reading this live in a world, a society, a nation, where we are relatively sure that if we do the right thing, good things should follow. At the very least, we do not expect horrific consequences-for doing the right thing. Were that security gone and we had to stand up for justice perilously or slink away quietly for fear of our very lives, how would we respond? How many of us would take the risk, invite the forces of evil to do their worst knowing that they likely will? Shoaib is my colleague, my friend. We wrote together and dreamed together. And I have dedicated my soul to seeing him free again. But what I do takes no special courage. For I live in the United States, where the things that have devastated my friend in Bangladesh would not even raise an eyebrow here. He is the real hero, and he deserves our support and thanks.
Shoaib never set out to be a cause. Reared in a Muslim society, he received a worldview that demonized the Jewish State and the Jewish people. He even worked for a time at an Islamistbacked paper, Daily Inquilab; but ultimately challenged that view and saw how much Jews, Muslims, and Christians share. He recognized the unjust treatment of Israel and the one-sided media portrayals that were deceiving the people of Bangladesh.
And he took action. He published articles that urged Bangladesh to recognize Israel, condemned rising fundamentalism in his country and biased reporting on Israel and Jews. He helped others, including this author, publish pro-Israeli articles there, sparking debate in the nation’s press and in government. But on November 29, 2003, as he prepared to board a plane for an historic Tel Aviv address on the media and peace, Shoaib was taken by police and held for questioning. The pending charge: spying for “the interests of Israel against the interests of Bangladesh.” Police raided his home and office and seized his computers, disks, and files. On their heels came a mob that sacked the premises with impunity.
A bizarre public vilification program ensued. Through selective government leaks, innuendo and outright falsehoods, Shoaib was accused variously of being a Mossad agent and a Muslim fundamentalist, a homosexual and a womanizer, a committed Zionist and an opportunist seeking personal gain. His family was threatened and pressured to denounce him. His brother and principal spokesman, Sohail, was attacked and twice had to flee the capital. Police refused to record the attacks blaming the Choudhurys for their “alliance with the Jews.”
Shoaib was hauled into court more than half dozen times then re-interned for “interrogation,” often contrary to Bangladesh law. After almost two months, with no evidence to support it, the government charged him with sedition, a capital offense. The charge is false, and the government has admitted as much. Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia has twice ordered the matter expedited, but forces within the government have prevented that. So Shoaib remains a behind bars, where fellow inmates call him “friend of Israel.” A practicing Muslim, he writes, “Captivity inside the cell is making me much stronger spiritually. I can see the lights of my goal during my prayers and meditation.” He pledges to continue advocating for peace and dialogue and not “surrender to unholy forces”: the ominously powerful Bangladeshi Islamists. Once known for the moderate variant of Islam practiced there, Bangladesh is in the grasp of a growing fundamentalist movement. Shoaib tried to warn us of this danger. Writing about their madrassas and the hatred they teach, he noted how they have moved from society’s outskirts into the homes of Bangladesh’s future leadership. He exposed their exportation of jihad to Israel, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and how they are sending a terrorist vanguard to Europe for jihad there and against the United States. Shoaib also recognized several radicals among his interrogators in the security police.
Unfortunately, he has been silenced for now, and his previous warnings have gone unheeded. Hence, the radicals’ hold on the government is growing, and justice in Bangladesh remains elusive. Though an official 14-month investigation found “nothing BAD about [Shoaib’s] character,” the government submitted the initial unfounded charges that “he is an agent of the Israeli Intelligence Agency,” leaving him behind bars, falsely accused of a capital offense. A senior investigator told his family that powerful Islamists including Shahta Zarab, the PA representative in Dhaka, pressured the government to block his release. And Shoaib suffers. His family is ostracized and pressured to denounce him. The family business has been closed and looted; and they are denied employment. With Bangladesh’s deteriorating social and political situation, friends fear that Shoaib might turn up “shot while trying to escape” or simply disappear. We must remain vigilant.
There are five essential reasons why the fundamentalists want to harass Shoaib: to stop his activities; to warn others who might dare speak the heresy of peace with the Jews; to assert their power; and to curry favor with the populace during times of unrest. Most importantly, they do it because they can, because no one effectively stops them. Despite protests by a few rights groups, Bangladeshi officials face little sustained outrage over this human rights violation-but they do face pressure from the radicals. Even the embassy ministers who promised me quick action have been silent. Shoaib took a personal risk by preaching peace and interfaith understanding. He was persecuted for it, and we cannot sit by idly. He urges supporters to visit our web site, www.freechoudhury.com, where they can: send messages of hope to the family, which strengthens their resolve; protest this injustice to Bangladesh; and sign a petition for his freedom. Lobby your congressman or other officials to help. The United States continues to support the Bangladesh government and economy through various laws. It is time to re-assess that support in light of the terrorist threat.
Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury tried to show the world that there is a side to Islam that does not scream so loudly that it drowns out the truth; that there is more than one Muslim narrative on the Middle East, and how it can be the start of real peace. Despite the risk, he sounded warning bells over the creeping ascendancy of radical Islam in Bangladesh and elsewhere. Half a world away, this brave, brave man stood up for freedom and equality; and half a world away he is persecuted mightily for it while the world ignores him and the danger he tried to warn us about. We can stand with him. I urge you to visit our web site and contact me at drrbenkin@comcast.net for writing or speaking engagements. If we don’t, the consequences could wreak global havoc, both half a world away and in our own backyards.
