Threats of violence and violations of human rights by imams of mosques and the religious right in Bangladesh
A. Threats of violations relating to freedom of speech
1. Date: December, 1992.
Place: Dhaka.
Victim: Dr Ahmed Sharif.
Incident: Case filed in CMM court to try Ahmed Sharif under # 395 (ka) / 298.
Cause:
Instigator: Advocate Azizullah Bhuyian.
2. Date: 23 September, 1993.
Place: Sylhet town.
Victim: Taslima Naserin.
Incident: Public speech offering a reward of Tk 50,000.0 for assassination of Taslima Nasrin.
Cause: Writing critically about Islam.
Instigator: Maulana Abdul Hafiz of Shabak Sainik Parishad.
Action: Request by Taslima Nasrin to Home Ministry to provide police protection not acceded to Taslima; filed case in court demanding protection. Police posted outside her apartment only after she won the case.
3. Date: 4 October, 1993.
Place: Sylhet.
Victim: Taslima Nasrin.
Incident: Public speech demanding arrest of Taslima and banning of her books.
Cause: Writing derogatory to the Quran, Islam and the Prophet.
Instigator: 'Shah Jalal Sainik Parishad'.
4. Date: 9 October, 1993.
Place: Sylhet town and Bhairabganj thana, Srimangal Sylhet.
Victim: Taslima Nasrin.
Incident: At Quran Mahfil a demand made for her execution and burning of her books; call for a hartal in Sylhet to demand Taslima's arrest and banning of her books.
Cause: Treason against religion, insult to the Quran supporting a foreign country.
Instigator: Khelafat Majlis, Shahaba Sainik Parishad and some other fundamentalist groups.
Action: The Home Ministry seized Taslima Nasrin's passport and banned her book 'Lajja'.
TN's case pending in High Court for return of passport.
5. Date: 15 October, 1993.
Place: Dhaka.
Victim: Taslima Nasrin.
Incident: Case filed against Taslima Nasrin in the city Hakim court.
Cause: Taslima Nasrin accused of provoking communal disharmony.
Instigator: Advocate Najmul Haq, Mirpur, Dhaka.
6. Date: 18 October, 1993.
Place: Sylhet Sadar.
Victim: Taslima Nasrin.
Incident: Case filed in Sylhet Sadar Hakim court to ban the publication and sale of Taslima's books.
Cause: Through her book 'Jabo No jabo' and her interpretations of the Quran, Taslima has offended the sentiments of 90 million Muslims.
Instigator: Maulana Nijamuddin, Teacher Jamia Madaniya Madrassah, Kaji Bazar, Sylhet.
7. Date: 2 November, 1993.
Place: Chattak village, Sunamganj thana, Sylhet zilla.
Victim: Taslima Nasrin.
Incident: Case filed against Taslima Nasrin in Sunamganj court.
Cause: To ban her books entitled 'Jabo Na jabo' and 'Nirbachita Column' because they are an affront to Islam.
Instigator: Maulana Abdul Hafiz, Teacher at Hasnabad Jamia Islamia Madrassah, Chattak.
8. Date: 27 November, 1993.
Place: Benapole, Jessore.
Victim: Taslima Nasrin.
Incident: Signed statement demanding her execution and banning of all her books.
Cause: Disrupting peace and harmony by writing about communal violence.
Instigator: 40 citizens in Benapole, Jessore.
9. Date: 29 November, 1993.
Place: Dhaka.
Victim: Taslima Nasrin.
Incident: Petition submitted to the Speaker, National Parliament to pass a regulation to execute Taslima Nasrin for blasphemy.
Cause: TN, a well known writer was accused of conspiring against Islam and national independence.
Instigator: 'Committee to protect Islam and the country'.
Action: Government took no action against the petitioners.
10. Date: December, 1992.
Place: Dhaka.
Victim: Dr Ahmed Sharif, Prof of Bangla, Dhaka University.
Incident: Demanded his execution.
Cause: Accused of blasphemy.
Instigator: Islami Shashantantra Movement and other fundamentalist groups.
Action: Government has taken no action against the demand announced in public.
Press editorials against violation of freedom of speech.
B. Threats and acts of violence against women
1. Date: 10 January, 1993.
Place: Chattokchora Gram, Kamalganj thana, Maulvi Bazar zilla.
Victim: Nurjehan (alleged suicide).
Incident: Salish held by Maulana Mannan and eight village sardars. Maulana Mannan pronounced fatwa that Nurjehan was guilty of adultery because she had remarried after a divorce. She and her husband were stoned 101 times, both her parents were flayed with a bamboo 101 times, and the witnesses were also punished. Nurjehan allegedly committed suicide after the punishment.
Instigators: Maulana Mannan and the village sardars.
Action taken: Protest by several women's organisations. Legal support. Case no. ÖÖ filed under # ÖÖ in the Maulvi Bazar court against Maulana Mannan and eight others for abetment to suicide. Judgement: 9 accused convicted and given 7 years RI. The convicted have appealed to a higher court.
2. Date: 5 May, 1993.
Place: Sripur village, Madhukhali thana, Faridpur Zilla.
Victim: Nurjehan.
Incident: Young woman, mother of three children burnt on a stake.
Cause: An arbitrary salish charged Nurjehan with adultery.
Instigators: Influential individuals and village elders in the .
Action taken: Prosecution case no. under # in the Madhukhali court. Investigations underway.
3. Date: June 1993.
Place: Badekusha village, Ullapara thana, Serajganj zilla.
Victims: 35 women.
Incident: Made social outcastes.
Cause: Women were asked accused at a local salish of adultery.
Instigator: Village elders constituted a salish.
Action: Not known.
4. Date: 10 August, 1993.
Place: Najarkanda village, Ajmiriganj thana, Habiganz zilla.
Victim: Wife of Khaleque Miah.
Incident: Local imams gave a fatwa asking Khaleque Miah to divorce his wife because she did not follow the Maulana's instructions.
Cause: (probable) She worked for a living outside her house.
Instigator: Local maulanas and village elders.
Action: Press report.
5. Date: 1 September, 1993.
Place: Kalikapur village, Kaliganj thana, Satkhira zilla.
Victim: Feroza, a 16 year old woman who was employed in a shrimp culture.
Incident: Village union chairman and Madrassah principal pronounced a fatwa at a salish accusing Feroza of an affair with a Hindu boy. She was flayed 101 times with a bamboo.
Cause: Feroza's family was caught in the middle of a family feud over local elections.
Instigator: Madrassah principal, union chairman, member and village elders.
Action: Protest by women's organisation in Dhaka and Satkhira. Formation of protest committees and legal aid committee in Satkhira.
Initial police resistance to filing of FIR report. Case pending. Two accused arrested by police. Application for bail.
6. Date: 1 September, 1993.
Place: Dewantoli village, Mahiganj thana, Rangpur.
Victim: Kadbanu.
Incident: Kadbanu, who was several months pregnant, was accused of adultery and buried waist deep in a newly dug ditch in the hot sun. When she started screaming the men left her in the ditch and went away. She was rescued in a dehydrated state.
Cause: When Katbanu became pregnant she asked the man with whom she had had a relationship to marry her, as he had promised. Instead he called a salish to accuse her of fornication.
Instigator: Village elders.
Action: Press reports. Bangladesh Mahila Parishad rescued Katbanu, treated her in hospital and gave her shelter. A case is pending in Mahiganj court. Not proceeding because evidence is withheld out of fear.
7. Date: 5 October, 1993.
Place: Bhotmari village, Kaliganj thana, Lalmonirhat zilla.
Victim: Zulekha.
Incident: Zulekha committed suicide after she was called to a salish, insulted and humiliated.
Cause: Accused of adultery.
Instigator: Local village elders.
8. Date: 9 October, 1993.
Place: Bahipara village, Gomastapur thana, Chapainawabganj zilla.
Victim: Local mosque imam.
Incident: Mosque imam dismissed by salish held by village elders.
Cause: Two maulvis gave a fatwa to say that he cannot lead prayers because his wife used contraceptives.
Instigators: Two local imams and village elders.
Action: Press report.
9. Date: 7 January, 1994.
Place: Sultanpur Union, Farhadnagar thana, Feni zilla.
Victim: An eighteen year old single woman.
Incident: Accused of fornication. Physical violence perpetrated on Roqaiya. Later her head was shaved, she was forced to wear a garland of shoes and paraded round the village.
Cause: She was accused of giving birth to a child out of wedlock.
Instigator: Village elders.
Action: Investigation by women's organisations. Protest. No action by government.
10. Date: 18 January, 1994.
Place: Balchura village, Begumganj thana, Noakhali zilla.
Victim: Dulali.
Incident: Fatwa to flay Dulali 101 times with a reed.
Cause: Dulali was accused of having sexual relationship with a married neighbour. She had been married off to another villager, who refused to keep her when he discovered she was pregnant. She had given birth to a baby seven days before the fatwa. The baby died soon after.
Instigator: Vice principal of the madrassah and the mosque Imam.
Action: Report in Janakantha (daily newspaper). Women's organisations telephoned the local police as well as the IG. The police stopped the fatwa being executed but accused the absconded. Investigation team interviewed Dulali and others. Thay have negotiated with the man accused of a relationship with Dulali to transfer part of his land to the latter. Arrangements are also being made to enable Dulali to stay in a women's shelter in the district, until her own village is safe for her.
11. Date: February, 1994.
Place: Bandaikhora village, Kahalu thana, Bogra zilla.
Victim: 26 TB patients of whom 3 died.
Incident: Fatwa given to stop patients from having BRAC medicine.
Cause: Imams accused BRAC of using medicine to convert people to Christianity.
Instigator: Local ulema and parties of religious right.
Action: BRAC filed case; DC and local administration alerted. DC called a public meeting where imams admitted they had done wrong. Press reportage and editorials.
Human rights organisations visited site.
12. Date: February, 1994.
Place: Batdigha village, Nandigram thana, Bogra zilla.
Victim: BRAC school.
Incident: 25 BRAC NFPE schools set on fire.
Cause: BRAC accused by imams of converting people to Christianity.
Instigator: Mosque Imams.
Action: Cases filed in some areas. DC called imams to public meeting. Admitted they were wrong. Press coverage. Women's and human rights organisations organised investigation, dissemination of information, public protest meetings.
13. Date: February/March 1994.
Place: 50 villages in different thanas of Bogra.
Victim: Almost 100 women.
Incident: Almost 100 pregnant women prevented from taking medicines.
Cause: Fatwa that the children born from women who took such medicines would become Christian.
Instigator: Imams and party of the religious right.
Action: Media coverage. Protest by women's and human rights organisations.
14. Date: 23 March, 1994.
Place: FIVDB, Doloipara village, Fatehpur union, Jentapur thana, Sylhet.
Victim: Abdur Rashid, employee of FIVDB.
Incident: A. Rashid beaten with shoes and fined Tk 25,000.0.
Instigator: Maulana and local village elders.
15. Date: March/April 1994.
Place: Deogram and Batdighi villages, Kahalu and Nandigram thanas, Bogra.
Victim: Farida, Rashida, and others.
Incident: Fatwa to flay each woman 101 times and then to allow them to remarry.
Cause: Fatwa given that married women working with BRAC are automatically divorced.
Instigator: Local maulvis, imams and party of religious right.
Action: Media coverage. Protests by women's organisations. Protest by NGOs. Meetings with administration and law enforcement agencies.
16. Date: 3 April, 1994.
Place: Deogram village, Kahalu thana, Bogra zilla.
Victim: Nachimun.
Incident: Nachimun divorced.
Cause: Maulana's fatwa that a woman working has to be divorced.
Instigator: Local imam, maulana and fundamentalist party.
Action: Local protests, NGO protests; meeting with DC.