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The WiPC of International PEN calls upon the Bangladeshi authorities to provide effective police protection to Azad and his family as a matter of urgency, and to take all necessary measures to ensure that a full and impartial investigation into the attacks and threats made against Azad and his family is carried out so that those responsible are brought to justice.
According to PEN's information, Azad and his family have reportedly received a series of recent death threats, which include the following: on 24 July, Azad's 16-year-old son Anannyo Azad was abducted near his home in Dhaka, questioned about his father's movements and assaulted before managing to escape. On 25 July, a newspaper article reported that an Islamic leader and member of parliament allegedly told a public meeting that Azad would face "dire consequences" for his writing. The next day, an anonymous threatening telephone call was made to the family home.
According to Amnesty International, "Concern for the safety of the family is heightened by an earlier attack on Dr Humayun Azad. On 27 February, unknown individuals stabbed him three times causing serious injuries for which he needed extensive medical treatment in Bangladesh and Bangkok. Dr Humayun Azad returned to Dhaka in early May and his health is reportedly improving. Police officers have been guarding his home since the attack, but have yet to identify his attackers or those threatening the family.
Dr Humayun Azad and his family have been threatened since the publication of his book 'Pak Sar Zamin Saad Baad' (the first line of the Pakistani national anthem). The book is based on religious groups in Bangladesh who collaborated with the Pakistani army during the 1971 independence war. Islamist groups reportedly took exception to comments made in the book which they felt were allegorical and derogatory references to their own activities. They began to agitate against the publication of the book and lobbied, unsuccessfully, for the introduction of a blasphemy law to ban such publications."
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Send appeals to authorities:
- calling on them to provide Azad and his family with immediate and effective protection from further attacks
- expressing alarm at the ongoing pattern of violence against writers and journalists who are targeted with apparent impunity
- demanding that all necessary measures are taken to investigate these crimes so that those responsible are held accountable
APPEALS TO:
Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia
Office of the Prime Minister
Gona Bhaban
Sher-e Bangla Nagar
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Fax: +880 2 811 3243 / 3244 / 1015 / 1490
Md. Lutfuzzaman Babar
Minister of Home Affairs
Ministry of Home Affairs
Bangladesh Secretariat
Building 4
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Fax: +880 2 861 9667
PLEASE SEND COPIES TO:
Natalie Nicora, NEAR, natalie.nicora@nearinternational.org
Cathy McCann at WiPC, International PEN, e-mail: cmccann@wipcpen.org,
To ensure that appeals are current and credible, please do not continue to write appeals on this case after 60 days from the date of the posting unless an update has been issued.
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