Shoaib jailed for sedition

A Dhaka court yesterday sentenced Salahuddin Shoaib Chowdhury, controversial editor of the obscure English weekly Blitz, to seven years' rigorous imprisonment in a case filed against him for sedition.
Mohammad Abdul Hanif, the then officer-in-charge (OC) of Airport Police Station in Dhaka, filed the case against Shoaib on January 24, 2004 for his involvement with the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad.
Shoaib, who used to work as a special correspondent for right leaning Inquilab newspaper till 2002, posed as an anti-Jihadist journalist in the eyes of the USA and Israel from 2003 and devoted himself to fighting anti-Jew sentiments.
Before getting appointed as country director of the Bangladesh office of the Israeli nongovernmental organisation IFLAC (International Forum for the Literature and Culture of Peace) in 2003, Shoaib served as managing director of Inquilab's television wing ITV.
But he was dismissed from ITV on charges of graft.
Judge Md Zahirul Haque of the Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court of Dhaka handed down the verdict in the presence of Shoaib, who is now in jail in another forgery case.
In his complaint filed with the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court in Dhaka, OC Hanif said Shoaib was arrested on November 29, 2003 from Shahjalal International Airport (then Zia International Airport) for his alleged links with Mossad.
Police seized compact discs (CDs) and papers, containing write-ups on some sensitive issues including 'minority repression and al-Qaeda network in Bangladesh', from his possession.   
On an invitation from the Israeli NGO IFLAC, Shoaib was supposed to present papers at a Tel Aviv seminar on December 2, 2003, which proved beyond doubt that he had been involved in anti-state activities for a long time, the OC claimed.
Different fax and e-mail messages, seized from Shoaib's possession, also proved that he had passed sensitive information out of the country, stated the complaint.
A project profile seeking a fund of Tk 12 crore from Jews in Israel was also seized from him. He sought the fund to publish three dailies -- the Dainik Sonali Din, Dainik Rupantar, Dainik Paribartan.
"As Shoaib has been engaged in spying and smuggling information out of the country for a long time to tarnish the image of Bangladesh, he should be charged with anti-state activities," the complainant said.
The court had recorded the statements of 19 prosecution witnesses, including the complainant of the case.  
Soon after the verdict, advocate Prakash Ranjan Biswas, who represented Shoaib, told reporters that the judge had pronounced the verdict sentencing his client illegally as they were deprived of placing arguments on behalf of the accused. Moreover, Shoaib wrote on increasing militancy in Bangladesh.
His client wrote correct topics but the government implicated him [Shoaib] falsely, Prakash said.
Earlier, Prakash had appealed to the court for recalling five witnesses for further cross-examination but it rejected the plea. Later he filed a criminal revision with the High Court challenging the legality of the rejection order.
But the trial court passed judgment even though the matter is pending with the higher court, Prakash said.
"We will go to the higher court for quashing the judgment," he added.            
Shoaib was first arrested on July 17, 1999 on the charge of sending e-mails to then prime minister Sheikh Hasina, her family members and some influential ministers, threatening their lives.