We strongly protest the unlawful arrest of garment workers leader Moshrefa Mishu, demand that she be immediately released, and that the fabricated charges against her be dropped.
Moshrefa Mishu, general secretary of the Ganatantrik Biplobi Party and the president of the Garment Workers Unity Forum, was picked up from her home in Kala Bagan at 1.15 am on 14.12.2010 by a force of 12 persons or so claiming to be from the Detective Branch of Police, and was compelled to accompany them to an undisclosed destination. The force did not have an arrest warrant, and when Mishu persisted in asking them to show a warrant, they threatened to arrest her. She was only allowed to change her clothes but not allowed to take her medication with her, for asthma, and for a severe spinal injury caused by an attack on her life several years ago.
Moshrefa Mishu was produced in CMM court after noon today and remanded for two days. We protest against her illegal arrest, and demand her immediate release.
We also protest, and condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the government’s response to the garment workers demands for the implementation of a new minimum wage that should have come into effect last month. More than 3 million people, mostly women, work in this sector which accounts for 80% of annual export earnings and make clothes for major Western brands including Wal-mart, Marks & Spencer and Carrefour. Three persons were killed in clashes with the police in the Chittagong EPZ yesterday, hundreds injured, 33 arrested, and 3 separate cases lodged against about 30,000 unknown people.
Instead of taking ‘tough action’ to ensure that factory owners implement what is, by all accounts a low increase, prime minister Sheikh Hasina has in effect ordered that action be taken against the workers who, even with the increases remain the least-paid in the world, and largely unable to arrange shelter and buy food in a situation where food-prices are spiralling upwards uncontrollably. Safety conditions in many factories are below standard, as can be gauged from the deaths of 24 people, and injuries suffered by scores more, when a fire broke out at a garment factory in Ashulia, Savar today.
We condemn the government’s anti-people actions (killing, baton charges,
firing tear gas, filing cases), we demand that Moshrefa Mishu and all others
arrested be released immediately, and that the government take immediate and transparent action to identify those who were behind the acts of vandalism, who, according to the Home Minister herself, are ’outsiders.’
December 15th, 2010
Signatories
- Dr. Akmal Hossain, Dhaka University
- Dr. M M Akash, Dhaka University
- Robaet Ferdous, Dhaka University
- Zobaida Nasrin Kona, Dhaka University
- Dr. Shantonu Mazumdar, Dhaka University
- Mesbah Kamal, Dhaka University
- Dr Rahman Chowdhury, Dhaka University
- Fahmidul Haq, Dhaka University
- Dr. Kaberi Gayen, Dhaka University
- Khorshed Alam, Dhaka University
- Dr Gitiara Nasreen, Dhaka University
- Mohammad Tanzimuddin Khan, Dhaka University
- Dr Perween Hasan, Dhaka University
- Lala Rukh Selim, Art Institute, Dhaka University
- Anu Muhammad, Jahangirnagar University
- Dr. Nasim Akhtar Hossain, Jahangirnagar University
- Sayeed Ferdous, Jahangirnagar University
- Dr. Manosh Chowdhury, Jahangirnagar University
- Mirza Taslima Sultana, Jahangirnagar University
- Sayema Khatun, Jahangirnagar University
- Mahmudul H. Sumon, Jahangirnagar University
- Nasrin Khondokar, Jahangirnagar University
- Swadhin Sen, Jahangirnagar University
- Sadaf Noor-e-Islam, Chittagong University
- Khadija Mitu, Chittagong University
- Abdullah Al Mamun, Rajshahi University
- Amena Khatun, Rajshahi University
- Kazi Shusmin Afsana, Rajshahi University
- Dr Firdous Azim, BRAC University
- Dr. Khaliquzzaman Elias, North South University
- Dr. Piash Karim, BRAC University
- Hasan Al Zayed, East West University
- Ahmed Javed Chowdhury Ronie, North South University
- Dr. Samia Huq, Anthropologist
- Fatama Sultana Suvra, Mirpur University College
- Priscilla Raj, journalist
- Shameema binte Rahman, broadcast journalist
- Faruk Wasif, journalist, writer
- Irin Niazi Manna, journalist
- Dr. Zafrullah Chowdhury, Gonoshasthya Kendra
- Hameeda Hossain
- Khushi Kabir, development activist
- Farah Kabir, development activist
- Zakir Kibria, Solidarity Workshop
- Shahid I Mallick, development activist
- Sharif Khan, human rights activist
- Aminul Islam Sujon, activist, POBA
- Barrister Sara Hossain, advocate, Bangladesh Supreme Court
- Khaleda Khatoon, human rights lawyer/activist
- Dr. Faustina Pereira, Advocate, Bangladesh Supreme Court
- Farhad Mazhar, writer, activist UBINIG
- Farida Akhter, writer, activist UBINIG
- Audity Falguni, writer
- Nur Mohammad, writer
- Salimullah Khan, writer
- Khademul Islam, writer, critic
- Rahnuma Ahmed, writer, columnist
- Naripokkho, Bangladesh (Organisation)
- Dilara Begum Jolly, artist
- Shibu Kumar Shil, artist
- Mita Rahman, actress
- Mohiudin Ahmad, publisher
- Hana Shams Ahmed, member, Drishtipat Writers’ Collective
- Jenneke Arens, Netherlands
- Dr Shahidul Alam, photographer/Drik
- Qamruzzaman, photographer
- Taslima Akhter, political activist and photographer
- Suraiya Begum, researcher
- Nasrin Siraj Annie, researcher, film maker
- Seema Nusrat Amin, researcher
- Sazia Rahman, researcher
- Bangladesh Group Netherlands (Organisation)
- Omar Tarek Chowdhury, writer, translator
- Saydia Gulrukh, doctoral student, USA
- Sarah Shehabuddin, doctoral student, USA
- Mahbub Kabir, doctoral student, Dublin
- Dilshad Siddiquea, service
- Muhammad Rizuoanul Islam, service
- Farjana Moni, law student
- Syful Akbar Khan, copywriter, ad agency
- Shameem Akhter, film-maker
- Susmita Chakraborty, Rajshahi University
- Selim Reza Newton, Rajshahi University
- Laura Wagner, Graduate Student, Department of Anthropology, UNC Chapel Hill, USA
- Maria Sorlie Berntsen, Bergen University Norway
- Naeem Mohaiemen, member, Drishtipat Writers’ Collective
- Mehedi Hasan, writer