E-Bangladesh » Special Report

Tortured: Jahangir Alam Akash

E-Bangladesh — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 03:14:43 +0000

Jahangir Alam Akash detained and tortured.

Persecuted for exposing extra-judicial executions by RAB.

Asian Human Rights Commission appeal.

[An E-Bangladesh report.]

E-Bangladesh has received a statement from journalist Jahangir Alam Akash, now imprisoned in Rajshahi central jail. The statement along with a note by another political prisoner were smuggled out of the prison and passed to E-Bangladesh. Translated by Rezwan from Bengali.

Statement by Jahangir Alam Akash.
General Secretary, Rajshahi Journalist Union.
Staff reporter, Dainik Sangbad.
Bureau chief, CSB News.
Freelance Journalist, Deutsche Welle, German Radio.

Why the lawsuits

Email details assault on Delwar

E-Bangladesh — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 01:07:57 +0000

[Update: Coup in BNP.]

– BNP secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain, from a hospital bed, has described to newsmen how he and his family are now under threat, The Daily Star reported.

– Akhter Hamid Paban, son of Khandaker Delwar Hossain, arrested Tuesday night, bdnews24.com reported.

[An E-Bangladesh report.]

In an email to E-Bangladesh a close relative of BNP secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain has detailed how a DGFI team led by Brigadier General ATM Amin assaulted Delwar Sunday evening. According to news reports, Delwar himself told newsmen: “They came into my house on Sunday night and told me that I would have to agree to resign from my post, accept the new chairperson and secretary general of their choice, and would have to join Monday’s standing committee meeting, or else the lives of my family members and my own would be in danger.”

I had a chance to talk to him [Delwar]. He is seriously in danger both in health and in fear. Brigadier General ATM Amin [of DGFI] and some other high official threatened, abused him verbally and assaulted him physically.

Brigadier General Amin started slapping him and he fell down. Amin repeatedly told him to go to Saifur’s [Rahman] house and resign there from his post and accept Saifur as acting chairman and Mannan [Bhuiyan] as acting secretary general. If he was not on time then his sons will be arrested as Yaba dealers and will be killed in “crossfire.” Brigadier General Amin and others also threatened to kill him [Delwar] through medications/injections. Brigadier General Amin also threatened to put his two daughters in jail with false cases.

Delwar is ill and he had several heart surgeries. Last year, there was a lungs surgery due to cancer. So, under torture and intimidation, he felt sick. He has requested me to inform all patriots, nationalist forces that his life and his family’s life is really in danger.

He also requested to pass this message to Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other international human rights groups seeking intervention that can save his life and as well as protect our beloved motherland.

I have already called many news papers in Bangladesh but most of them said the felt sorry but have limitations. Therefore, I am here and asking for help.

DGFI engineers BNP coup

E-Bangladesh — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 20:42:10 +0000

M Saifur Rahman “acting chairperson.”

Hafiz Uddin Ahmed “acting secretary general.”

6 standing committee members held hostage at gun point.

Khandaker Delwar Hossain, ASM Hannan Shah missing.

DGFI — ATM Amin and Chowdhury Fazlul Bari — behind the coup.

“An absolute violation of the BNP constitution.”

[An E-Bangladesh report.]

Bangladesh’s military intelligence agency has engineered a leadership takeover in BNP — one of the largest political parties in the country — after holding 6 out of the 14 standing committee members hostage at gun point for several hours. In a dramatic turn of events, former finance minister M Saifur Rahman has declared himself acting chairperson and Hafiz Uddin Ahmed acting secretary general of the party.

Meanwhile, seating BNP secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain has disappeared from a hospital in Dhaka. Unconfirmed reports say that Delwar and BNP chairperson’s adviser ASM Hannan Shah were abducted by intelligence operators. Both were last seen with major ranking intelligence officers who surrounded them.

In an email to E-Bangladesh, a highly placed source close to pro-Khaleda Zia faction of BNP detailed how a DGFI [Directorate General of Forces Intelligence] team led by two of its most influential deputy director generals — Brigadier Generals ATM Amin and Chowdhury Fazlul Bari — held top BNP leaders hostage to engineer a coup:

Tonight two DGFI officers Brigadier General Chowdhury Fazlul Bari and Brigadier General ATM Amin rounded up 6 out of 14 standing committee members of BNP in the house of Mr. Saifur Rahman. The two Brigadier Generals are reportedly forcing Mr. Saifur Rahman to take over the post of acting chairperson and make Mr. MK Anwar secretary general and strip Mr. Khandaker Delwar from his present post. They are also proposing to bring back Mr. Mannan Bhuiyan back in the party and keep him in the standing committee.

So far, Mr. Saifur Rahman has refused to accept this proposal. So have Dr. RA Gani, Mr. Shamsul Islam and Tanvir Ahmed Siddique. Mr. Saifur has also questioned the very presence of Mannan Bhuiyan, the expelled secretary general. The DGFI men are holding them at gun point and want it to be done by tonight.

Earlier, last night, DGFI team went to Delwar’s place and threatened to arrest his sons and daughters and imprison him for life if he did not resign from his post.

This has happened after General Moeen’s return from abroad. He reportedly was angry at Bari and Amin for delaying this plan so far. The civilian part of the caretaker government is helplessly watching this event as a spectator only.

Another BNP leader has pointed out to an E-Bangladesh correspondent that the coup “is an absolute violation of the party [BNP] constitution.” “On many counts. Standing committee meeting can not be convened without chairperson’s order, so the meeting that took place was illegal. There is no provision of ‘acting chairperson’ or ‘acting secretary general’ plus nobody in the party has the authority to nullify any decision by the chairperson.”

Earlier, vernacular daily Amader Shomoy, regarded by many as a DGFI mouthpiece, scooped about a “dramatic change” in BNP. News agency bdnews24.com reported about the meeting at M Saifur Rahman’s Gulshan residence that started Monday evening: “to reach conciliation between the two factions of the troubled party.”

As Saifur emerged from the meeting he told newsmen at a hastily arranged midnight press briefing, “I have been made the acting chief of the party in the absence of the BNP chairperson because I am the most senior leader of the party

Financial statement confirms Trust Bank loan

E-Bangladesh — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 14:34:27 +0000

[An E-Bangladesh report.]

E-Bangladesh has confirmed that General Moeen U Ahmed’s Taka 99,69,215 loan amount at the end of 2005 that is stated in the Trust Bank prospectus is consistent with the loan amount stated in the bank’s 2005 financial statement. The audited financial statement for 2005 available on the Trust Bank website indicates that loans to directors of Trust Bank at the end of 2005 was Taka 10,974,435. This is the same loan amount indicated on page 20 of the Trust Bank prospectus.

[Click image to enlarge: Section 8.2.1 of the "Auditor's Notes to the Financial Statements" showing the 2005 loan amount in the left column.]

On the Trust Bank prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the total loan amount to directors at the end of 2005 is given as Taka 10,974,435 of which Taka 9,969,215 was loaned to General Moeen U Ahmed and Taka 1,005,220 was loaned to Brigadier General Shawkat Hossain.

[Click image to enlarge: Page 20 of the Trust Bank prospectus showing 2005 loan amounts to directors.]

Trust Bank’s financial statements from 2003 and 2004 available on the Trust Bank website also show that there were no loans outstanding to any directors at the end of years 2003 and 2004, before General Moeen U Ahmed joined the board of directors.

[Click image to enlarge: Section 1.3 of the Financial Statements for 2003 and 2004 showing no loans to directors for both years.]

Crackdown on internet users in Bangladesh

E-Bangladesh — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 14:54:32 +0000

RAB & BTRC pinpointing internet users with fast connections.

ISPs instructed to reveal admin password, user data.

“Traffic scanners” to monitor internet users.

BTRC memo leaked to E-Bangladesh.

–

[An E-Bangladesh exclusive.]

RAB (Rapid Action Battalion) members assisted by BTRC (Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission) officials are conducting house-to-house searches in Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet pinpointing each and every internet user with a fast connection. In an unprecedented move that clearly violates privacy rights and threatens freedom of speech and communication, a special cell comprising RAB and BTRC officials are now collecting user details — name, address, login and usage statistics — from all the ISPs (Internet Service Provider) in order to profile more than 450,000 internet subscribers in the country.

Officials from different ISPs in Dhaka, Sylhet and Chittagong have confirmed to E-Bangladesh that they were verbally instructed late September by the authorities to:

-Provide a list of all their subscribers with name, address and connection details.
-Share the admin password of internet gateway servers.
-Facilitate installation of “traffic scanners” provided by RAB on gateway routers.

A memo issued by BTRC that instructed ISPs to share/reveal sensitive private data of internet users, business details and technical information was leaked to E-Bangladesh. This memo, BTRC/E&O/ISP-Gen.(302)/2007-1697 , issued on September 26, was signed by Dilshat Ara Shela, Assistant Director Engineering & Operations, BTRC. It instructed and advised 72 ISPs in Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet:

-To provide BTRC with details of bandwidth lease and usage.
-To provide details of “corporate/dedicated/shared” clients: Name, address, IP.
-To provide copies of technical agreements with connectivity providers.
-To reveal individual client MRTG URL with user id and password.

“ISPs must have complete information regarding the exact location of the client,” the memo advised. Failure to comply with BTRC demands may result in closure of the ISP, it warned.

A senior BTRC official, on condition of anonymity, claimed to E-Bangladesh that BTRC is assisting RAB members in their crackdown on illegal VOIP operators. He could not, however, explain why regular home users are being targeted.

In Dhaka , in the last week of September, a broadband user in a residential area received, as he described to E-Bangladesh in an email, “uninvited guests:” 5 plainclothes RAB men and 2 BTRC officials.

They said they were looking for VOIP equipments… Clearly they saw I did not have any of those. Still a RAB member was asking me questions and taking notes, like, what I do in real life and internet etc… I doubted if those people even knew anything about VOIP, they were checking my computer… Even my MSN Messenger and Skype contact lists were checked… How could I explain to someone who did not even know about voice chats?

Similar reports of RAB visits to internet users in Chittagong and Sylhet have been confirmed. One user in Sylhet expressed his frustration via email,

Is it a crime, to have an internet connection? They were misbehaving even when they wanted to check my computer. I was telling them I did not do any VOIP business then why check my computer… No one is talking about this. Now if my sister wants to use internet RAB will come and search for her, what nonsense is this?

[Translated from Bengali.]

In another email, a System Administrator of one of the ISPs told E-Bangladesh, If this continues then using internet in Bangladesh will become a crime sometime soon. We have to shut down our business. These people [RAB] enter our server rooms without permission and ask stupid questions and misbehave. I was informed by my sources inside BTRC that these house-to-house searches will intensify from next Thursday. If they go to people’s houses like this they will stop using internet out of fear.

…

If I have to reveal my admin password, user logins and passwords, what kind of service am I going to provide? Where in world they have found this formula?

The ISP Association of Bangladesh — umbrella organization of internet service providers – could not be contacted. BTRC officials declined to issue any official explanation. Repeated attempts to contact RAB headquarters in Dhaka for its version of the story failed.]

Are you a victim of the ongoing crackdown on internet users in Bangladesh? E-Bangladesh is interested to publicize your story. Your anonymity, if requested, will be guaranteed. Mail Tasneem Khalil, Consulting Editor, E-Bangladesh at tasneem at e-bangladesh.org describing your experience, story tips, comments or feedbacks.