Sloan not allowed to hold press confce as he came as tourist

The government did not allow international human rights lawyer William Sloan to hold press conference in Dhaka on February 22 as he came to Bangladesh on a tourist visa, a home ministry release yesterday said.
It said Sloan had told immigration officials on arrival at Zia International Airport on February 16 that he was very interested in seeing different paintings. As a tourist, it was only logical for him to see different paintings according to the country's law.
"But without doing that, Sloan, also president of Canada chapter of American Association of Jurists, attended dinner with lawyers, gave interviews to private media and also held meetings with politicians as well as university teachers though he was asked not to engage in such activities," said the release.
A foreign tourist could deliver speech on a country's political and sub judice matters. "For that reason, the government did not allow Sloan to arrange press conference on February 22 at Sonargaon Hotel."
During his visit, the HR jurist had spoken about the political detainees here, including former prime ministers Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia.