January 18, 2007—Congressman Trent Franks (AZ-02) recently co-sponsored a resolution urging the Government of Bangladesh to immediately drop all pending charges against Bangladeshi journalist Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury. 

Mr. Franks stated, “During a time of growing religiously motivated terrorism around the world, Bangladesh’s historic model of religious tolerance should be reaffirmed. This is a perfect opportunity for the Bangladesh government to drop all charges against Mr. Choudhury.  This will demonstrate their dedication to protecting their strong civil society and democratic foundation that is currently being threatened by Islamic extremists.”

He continued, “I commend the interim government for postponing the election and beginning to take the necessary steps to ensure a free and fair election in the near future that is inclusive of all religious groups and that protects the essential freedoms enshrined in their Constitution.”

Mr. Choudhury was charged with sedition, an offense punishable by death, and incarcerated for 17 months for his comments supporting inter-faith dialogue between Muslims and Jews and for his criticism of Islamic extremism.  Although he was released, the charges have not been dropped.  Last summer, his newspaper offices were bombed by an Islamic extremist organization after he published articles in support of the Ahmadiyya, a minority Muslim community.  While Bangladesh’s constitution protects international human rights, including religious freedom, cases such as Mr. Choudhury’s raise serious concern about the status of this crucial right under the current political situation.

In the past week, the opposition party, the Awami League, pulled out of the national election process due to substantial irregularities in the lists of registered voters and the election lost international support.  There were several allegations that eligible minority religious communities were prevented from registering.  Also, there have been protests – some of which were violent – and attacks on religious groups.  Consequently, the president of the interim caretaker government resigned and postponed the Jan. 22nd election.  A new caretaker government has been appointed and has been urged by several groups to take the necessary reforms in order to ensure free and fair elections in the near future.

 Congressman Franks is serving his third term in the U.S. House of Representatives, is a member of the Committee on Armed Services, Committee on the Judiciary, is Ranking Member on the Constitution Subcommittee, and is a co-founder of the Task Force on International Religious Freedom (TIRF) and the Israel Allies Caucus (IAC).insert text here