Observatory calls for release of Mahmudur.

[Major d1]

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders on Wednesday called for urgent intervention for guaranteeing physical and psychological integrity of Amar Desh acting editor Mahmudur Rahman and other human rights defenders.


The Observatory is a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH).

“The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about the ongoing arbitrary detention, judicial harassment, and ill-treatment of Mahmudur Rahman, acting editor of the Amar Desh newspaper, who has been detained since 2013 for various fabricated and politically motivated charges relating to his work as a journalist,” read a release of the organisation.

It alleged the government has now mounted 73 ‘fabricated’ and ‘politically motivated’ cases against Mahmudur Rahman.

“Over the past three years, he has had to travel three to four times a week from Kashimpur Jail 2 to the court of the chief metropolitan magistrate, Dhaka, for hearings on these cases. Each journey, covering a total distance of almost 100 kilometres a day, took more than four hours each way in a hot and humid prison van with very little ventilation.”

It further said this type of ill-treatment was especially concerning due to 63 year-old Mahmudur Rahman's health, as he suffers from various ailments aggravated by the torture he suffered while in police custody and over three years of confinement at Kashimpur Jail 2.

In addition, it alleged, his family members - including his wife and his mother - have also been threatened and harassed by the government.
The Observatory asked all to write to the authorities in Bangladesh, urging them to guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Mahmudur Rahman as well as of all human rights defenders in Bangladesh, to drop all charges against Mahmudur Rahman and, in the meantime, ensure that any judicial proceedings against him are carried out in full compliance with the defendants' right to a fair trial, as protected under international law.

It also demanded release of Mahmudur Rahman immediately and unconditionally, since his detention is “arbitrary as it only aims at curtailing his human rights activities”.

http://en.prothom-alo.com/bangladesh/news/103719/Observatory-calls-for-release-of-Mahmudur

 

[mb444]

BAL and their bizzare project to turn BD into a one party state is the reason for incarceration.

A democracy require desenting voices, it is a barometer of its health. Unfortunately for the nation and also BAL itself the situation is untenable.

BAL should recognise that pendulum always swings and no one can be in power forever

 

[bluesky]

BAL should recognise that pendulum always swings and no one can be in power forever

No, BAL President has already implied that she will remain the PM until the end of 2042.

 

[Major d1]

BAL vision will be demolished between 2021 to 2041. Anything can be happen.

 

[mb444]

No, BAL President has already implied that she will remain the PM until the end of 2042.

Lol.....easy to make pronouncements..... more difficult to carry it out

 

[Bilal9]

No, BAL President has already implied that she will remain the PM until the end of 2042.

I see BAL staying in power provided they do a few things.

1. Continue (or improve) the trajectory of development as has been seen for the last few years.
2. Reduce the 'chori'.
3. Reduce (tame) the number of uneducated, scum cadres within the party - transforming the party into a more merit-based leadership with educated people (Tarana Halim, Zunaid Palak etc.) who can be active and effective in IT and communications projects.
4. Increase the number of business-people as bureaucrats (e.g. Aziz Khan) who can be very effective in completing public works projects and infrastructure.
5. Extending olive branches to BNP and Jamaat sobre leaders to participate in the parliament.

Otherwise - people's discontent will cause their downfall.

Chori or corruption cannot be avoided - the point is that development has to go on regardless.

Khaleda's tenure did not see enough development yet too much of the Chori.

 

[Nilgiri]

lol "major" got banned again.

I see BAL staying in power provided they do a few things.

1. Continue (or improve) the trajectory of development as has been seen for the last few years.
2. Reduce the 'chori'.
3. Reduce (tame) the number of uneducated, scum cadres within the party - transforming the party into a more merit-based leadership with educated people (Tarana Halim, Zunaid Palak etc.) who can be active and effective in IT and communications projects.
4. Increase the number of business-people as bureaucrats (e.g. Aziz Khan) who can be very effective in completing public works projects and infrastructure.
5. Extending olive branches to BNP and Jamaat sobre leaders to participate in the parliament.

Otherwise - people's discontent will cause their downfall.

Chori or corruption cannot be avoided - the point is that development has to go on regardless.

Khaleda's tenure did not see enough development yet too much of the Chori.

Ok so if they dont do those, what real alternatives are there for BD? More of Khaleda ( pure chori and all the bad relations she brings with dada as well).

There needs to be a 3rd pro-BD development alternative than these 2 sides of same coin.

 

[Bilal9]

lol "major" got banned again.



Ok so if they dont do those, what real alternatives are there for BD? More of Khaleda ( pure chori and all the bad relations she brings with dada as well).

There needs to be a 3rd pro-BD development alternative than these 2 sides of same coin.

3rd pro-BD development alternative doesn't exist so far......

 

[Nilgiri]

3rd pro-BD development alternative doesn't exist so far......

Hence my point, why must BD people be in a rush to push anti-incumbency (say nothing you list is accomplished) with quite possibly much bloodshed and turmoil...when the alternative is just as bad, even worse?

I say this because I do not see BD undertaking any strong economic reforms to entice more FDI to continue its expansion and trajectory yet(which will necessarily require more large industries). Loan based GCF can only go so far because you rely on excellent transfer (which may not happen) and then you will get over-leveraged quite fast given BD's small capital base if it cannot add relevant amounts of greenfield on someone elses dime+risk.

So BD public might as well weigh the pros of continued stability as well no matter how much BAL messes up (lets hope they don't as much as possible of course)....because continued stability may be what is needed to tip over the quality investment numbers in the long term....given big sources would then have enough "time" and "expertise" developed with the BD bureaucracy (compared to it changing in some bloody revolution given BAL is only going to continue to rig elections here on out).

This is for example how Suharto ran Indonesia for a very long time. Yes he was corrupt, nepotism was rife, democracy was crushed and many freedoms were suppressed.....but he did bring about good investment (through his stability) that would set the base for Indonesia's economic growth and social development...even after he was overthrown (it must be said mostly because of the asian financial crisis).

I think BD would be more prudent to opt for stability for 10 - 20 years at least than continuing to play the roulette wheel and suffering from the alternating of red and black. The numbers look fine overall, but there is some real underlying vulnerability I see that needs to be given time to shore up. You need that time and stability to give yourself the room to form a 3rd party alternative (as people progress to higher levels, but then chafe against the system that got them there and thus push for more relevant sustainable change they wont get reamed by since they have better means in dealing with the ruling elite which by necessity then probably need to form alternatives to properly respond).

@bd_4_ever @Philia @madokafc your thoughts?

 

[Al-zakir]

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders on Wednesday called for urgent intervention for guaranteeing physical and psychological integrity of Amar Desh acting editor Mahmudur Rahman and other human rights defenders.


The Observatory is a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH).

“The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about the ongoing arbitrary detention, judicial harassment, and ill-treatment of Mahmudur Rahman, acting editor of the Amar Desh newspaper, who has been detained since 2013 for various fabricated and politically motivated charges relating to his work as a journalist,” read a release of the organisation.

It alleged the government has now mounted 73 ‘fabricated’ and ‘politically motivated’ cases against Mahmudur Rahman.

“Over the past three years, he has had to travel three to four times a week from Kashimpur Jail 2 to the court of the chief metropolitan magistrate, Dhaka, for hearings on these cases. Each journey, covering a total distance of almost 100 kilometres a day, took more than four hours each way in a hot and humid prison van with very little ventilation.”

It further said this type of ill-treatment was especially concerning due to 63 year-old Mahmudur Rahman's health, as he suffers from various ailments aggravated by the torture he suffered while in police custody and over three years of confinement at Kashimpur Jail 2.

In addition, it alleged, his family members - including his wife and his mother - have also been threatened and harassed by the government.
The Observatory asked all to write to the authorities in Bangladesh, urging them to guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Mahmudur Rahman as well as of all human rights defenders in Bangladesh, to drop all charges against Mahmudur Rahman and, in the meantime, ensure that any judicial proceedings against him are carried out in full compliance with the defendants' right to a fair trial, as protected under international law.

It also demanded release of Mahmudur Rahman immediately and unconditionally, since his detention is “arbitrary as it only aims at curtailing his human rights activities”.

http://en.prothom-alo.com/bangladesh/news/103719/Observatory-calls-for-release-of-Mahmudur

He may die in jail unless BNP return to power soon. Awami league will let this man out of Jail.

 

[Nilgiri]

unless BNP return to power soon.

 

[Bilal9]

Hence my point, why must BD people be in a rush to push anti-incumbency (say nothing you list is accomplished) with quite possibly much bloodshed and turmoil...when the alternative is just as bad, even worse?

I say this because I do not see BD undertaking any strong economic reforms to entice more FDI to continue its expansion and trajectory yet(which will necessarily require more large industries). Loan based GCF can only go so far because you rely on excellent transfer (which may not happen) and then you will get over-leveraged quite fast given BD's small capital base if it cannot add relevant amounts of greenfield on someone elses dime+risk.

So BD public might as well weigh the pros of continued stability as well no matter how much BAL messes up (lets hope they don't as much as possible of course)....because continued stability may be what is needed to tip over the quality investment numbers in the long term....given big sources would then have enough "time" and "expertise" developed with the BD bureaucracy (compared to it changing in some bloody revolution given BAL is only going to continue to rig elections here on out).

This is for example how Suharto ran Indonesia for a very long time. Yes he was corrupt, nepotism was rife, democracy was crushed and many freedoms were suppressed.....but he did bring about good investment (through his stability) that would set the base for Indonesia's economic growth and social development...even after he was overthrown (it must be said mostly because of the asian financial crisis).

I think BD would be more prudent to opt for stability for 10 - 20 years at least than continuing to play the roulette wheel and suffering from the alternating of red and black. The numbers look fine overall, but there is some real underlying vulnerability I see that needs to be given time to shore up. You need that time and stability to give yourself the room to form a 3rd party alternative (as people progress to higher levels, but then chafe against the system that got them there and thus push for more relevant sustainable change they wont get reamed by since they have better means in dealing with the ruling elite which by necessity then probably need to form alternatives to properly respond).

@bd_4_ever @Philia @madokafc your thoughts?

Well developmental economics is not my cup of tea nor am I a fan.

For the short (and even medium) term i.e. another twenty years, Bangladesh will continue to be the recipient of large scale Chinese and Hong Kong investments where labor cost is in Bangladesh' favor and where China has banished these sectors to our shores because of lack of subsidy (shoes, small household electronics and electrics, toys and other plastic injected/extruded items, household goods, in addition to garments/clothes). Even in absence of GSP and special tariff considerations in EU, UK and US, I see Bangladesh being a large scale source for these items as long as labor cost is reasonably kept under check - which means Govt. subsidy regime like in China.

However skilled items export (IT back office and programming) may also increase as labor shortage in India gets more intense.

Here's where I drop my bomb, Bangladesh population in the next generation (another twenty years) will actually DECREASE to fourteen or so crore (140 Million)

Provided of course present impetus to reduce fertility continues. We will definitely need this as we won't have the land to support a population of twenty crore any more with global warming. Present efforts to upgrade educational standards of women will continue the present trajectory which is being helped by women joining the workplace in large numbers.

Stability is definitely a desirable factor. Democracy is not desirable in a country where average education level still remains so low (I guess rest of South Asia isn't too far ahead either). For a small country like Bangladesh - the example to be followed is South Korea, where a period of benevolent autocracy and stability (meaning forced discipline and stability) was a precursor to organized industrialization using a few Chaebols. Eventually when education level increases (average citizen matures) - then democracy can return. This was the formula in small countries like South Korea, Taiwan as well as Singapore (under Lee Kuan Yew). There is no other alternative. Asians are simply indiciplined, that's all.

 

[extra terrestrial]

Here's where I drop my bomb, Bangladesh population in the next generation (another twenty years) will actually DECREASE to fourteen or so crore (140 Million)

Well, that sounds like an estimate from a too pessimistic demographist...

From what I read, Bangladesh will keep growing till 2035 or so when the population will be about 25 crore and stabilize. The current demographic dividend of South Asia will last till at least 2050...

Provided of course present impetus to reduce fertility continues. We will definitely need this as we won't have the land to support a population of twenty crore any more with global warming.

Decreasing/Ageing population is not desirable for any country in any situation. Population is an asset which could be utilised or wasted...

Yes, high density is a problem, but it could be mitigated through the advancement of technology. Moreover, the urbanization rate will be much higher in future and cities could easily absorb higher population density than the rural areas...

 

[Russell]

Fake journalist and editor...the hero of Jamaati scum has just been released.

 

[extra terrestrial]

He may die in jail unless BNP return to power soon. Awami league will let this man out of Jail.

He's out now... on bail.