Journalist från Bangladesh anklagad för "spioneri" för Israel

Även, eller särskilt "Tredje världen" uppvisar regelbundet en häpnadsväckande intolerans.

I det islamiska Bangladesh sitter journalisten Salah Choudhoury i husarrest sedan nio månader anklagad för att ha spionerat för Israel.

Hans "brott"?

Som ordförande i det bangladeshiska "International Forum for Literature and Culture for Peace (IFLAC)" skulle han åka på ett litteratursymposium i Israel i slutet av förra året för att hålla ett tal om hur media i den islamiska världen skulle kunna verka för fred. Men det blev för mycket för regimen i hemlandet, som grep honom och försökte få honom att erkänna till "spioneri".

Organisationen Reportrar Utan Gränser skriver om fallet i sin årsrapport 2004. Bangladesh är det land i världen i vilket antalet attacker och hot mot journalister från kriminella gäng och islamiska fanatiker är störst (200). Organisationen säger att regimen inte vidtar några åtgärder, och att de islamistiska media i landet hetsar till hat mot hinduer och människorättsaktivister.

Så här skriver Reportrar Utan Gränser om Choudhoury:

Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, the editor of the weekly entertainment magazine Blitz, was detained by police at Dhaka airport on 29 November as he was about to leave on a trip that would have taken him to Israel. A judge gave police permission to hold him for seven days at police headquarters, where secret service officers tried to get him to admit to spying for Israel. Choudhury had recently been named head of the Bangladeshi branch of the International Forum for Literature and Culture for Peace (IFLAC), which links writers who campaign for peace. As such he was to have participated on 1 December in a symposium in Tel Aviv held by the Hebrew Writers Association, delivering an address on how the media in Islamic countries could help pave the way for peace in the Middle East.

His participation would have been a first for a Bangladeshi journalist. Bangladesh and Israel have no diplomatic relations and Bangladeshis do not have the right to travel to Israel. The secret services claimed that the documents found in his briefcase, especially the text of his speech and reports about the human rights situation in Bangladesh, were evidence of spying on behalf of Israel. A few hours after his arrest, police seized all the computer equipment, including printers and CD-ROMs, at the offices of his magazine and at his home. IFLAC president Ada Aharoni told Reporters Without Borders by telephone that her organisation has no links with the Israeli authorities and that she condemned Choudhury's detention.