Released on = April 8, 2006, 10:18 am

Press Release Author = Patricia Ovemarrie, News2006

Industry = Media

Press Release Summary = New York based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has
released a statement recently calling upon the Bangladesh authorities to dismiss
sedition charges against eminent journalist Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury whose trial
begins this month in Dhaka's Additional Metropolitan Session Court. Sedition carries
capital punishment.

Press Release Body = New York based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has
released a statement recently calling upon the Bangladesh authorities to dismiss
sedition charges against eminent journalist Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury whose trial
begins this month in Dhaka's Additional Metropolitan Session Court. Sedition carries
capital punishment.

In the statement, CPJ satid, Choudhury, editor of the Bangladesh tabloid weekly
Blitz, was originally charged with passport violations after he tried to travel to
Israel in November 2003 to participate in a conference with the Hebrew Writers
Association. Bangladesh has no formal relations with Israel, and it is illegal for
Bangladeshi citizens to travel there. Those charges were dropped and sedition
charges brought in February 2004. In support of the sedition charges, court
authorities cited articles written by Choudhury about the rise of Islamic
fundamentalism in Bangladesh. Choudhury has also written articles against
anti-Israeli attitudes in Muslim countries and about the spread of Islamist
militancy in Bangladesh. Choudhury had spent 17 months in jail before his release on
bail in May 2005.

"Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury's journalism has clearly angered the authorities in
Bangladesh. But using sedition charges to silence a writer just because he is seen
as controversial calls into question Bangladesh's commitment to democracy," CPJ
Executive Director Ann Cooper said. "We urge the court to dismiss these charges and
call on the government to refrain from using this draconian law to stifle public
discussion."

Choudhury has kept his editing position at Blitz, but he told CPJ that he remains
under pressure from the government and extremist groups for his writing and his
perceived association with Israel.

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