Writers muzzled by Bangladesh's censorship

Muslims visit a stall at Amor Ekushey Book Fair in Dhaka on Feb. 19. The Supreme Court has banned two books and ordered their removal from the fair on grounds of hurting religious feelings. (Photo: Stephan Uttom/UCA News

Bangladesh's top court has banned two books by an atheist blogger for allegedly hurting religious sentiments in the Muslim-majority country that has seen a deadly rise of radicalism and brutal murders of bloggers and free thinkers in recent times.

The Supreme Court banned two books — Dia Arefin and Grandmother's Dictum — written by Darais Arag, an atheist blogger, on Feb. 26 and ordered them to be removed from Amor Ekushey Boilmela, the country's largest annual book fair.

The court also ordered Bangla Academy, the organizer of the book fair, to cancel the stall of Sristhighar, the publisher of the books.

The order was in response to a petition filed by lawyer Azharullah Bhuiyan. "The contents of both the books hurt religious beliefs and an individual's choice of clothing. The contents could incite communal riots in the country," Bhuiyan told journalists.

Officials of Bangla Academy, the state-run autonomous body for promotion of Bangla language, literature and culture, said the books had already been removed after they found "objectionable materials." They added that Sristhighar was not allocated a stall and they stopped the illegal selling of the books from other stalls.

The court decision has not gone down well with supporters of free speech.

Christians struggle in Bangladesh's literary landscape

Book hunters visit a stall at Amor Ekushey Gronthomela (Book Fair of Immortal 21). (Photo: Stephan Uttom/UCA News)

On the last Saturday of early spring, the famous Suhrawardy Udyan in central Dhaka thronged with thousands of book lovers.

The park has been hosting the month-long Amor Ekushey Gronthomela (Book Fair of Immortal 21), the largest and most popular annual literary festival of Bangladesh, for the past five years, offering more space for both book publishers and an increasing number of book hunters.

It started as an initiative of educationist-publisher Chittaranjan Saha, a Hindu, in 1972. The fair pays tribute to Bangla language martyrs of Feb. 21, 1952, who died in a clash with police during the Pakistan period upholding the rights of their mother tongue.

Since 1984, Bangla Academy, the state-funded autonomous body for the promotion of Bangla language, literature and culture, has organized the event.

However, the huge crowds at the fair pay little attention to Christian publications, largely because of their minimal presence and participation.

There are 873 stalls of 560 publishers and organizations at this year's book fair and only two of them are Christian. Some 15 Christian writers have published books so far, mostly through individual efforts and other publishers.

Bullying Bangladesh govt clamping down on free speech

Bangladeshi activists shout slogans as they march in the street protesting the deaths of secular publishers and bloggers, in Dhaka, in this file photo. (Photo by Munir uz Zaman/AFP)

The Arab crisis surrounding Qatar and the demands by the Saudi Arabia-led campaign to shut down its influential Al-Jazeera news agency shines a light on the growing threats against freedom of speech in the region.

David Kaye, the United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, described the demand as a "blow to media pluralism" in a recent statement.

As media freedom continues to plummet in the wake of populist, authoritarian leaders in Europe and America, such as Donald Trump, Digital Content Next, an influential media alliance that includes the BBC, The Guardian, The New York Times and Washington Post, has unequivocally leaped to the defense of Al-Jazeera.

Meanwhile, in Bangladesh, a war is raging, both covertly and publicly, against free speech despite the constitution ensuring its people freedom of expression.

Attacks on media and freethinking

Increasingly arbitrary restrictions have been placed on media and written works in Bangladesh by each regime since it gained independence from Pakistan in 1971. The current austere regulations imposed by the ruling Awami League, the party that led the struggles for independence and has been in power since 2008, has surpassed those of its predecessors.

The government, led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina came to power after a controversial election on Jan. 5, 2014 boycotted by the major opposition parties. The absence of an effective political opposition has allowed the increasingly authoritarian rulers to adopt a policy of muzzling dissent.

The state apparatus has forced several newspapers and online sites to shut down or curtail their operations, pulled the plug on two television stations, while half a dozen prominent journalists are being hounded with criminal charges.

According to Ain-O-Salish Kendra, a Dhaka-based rights organization, 117 journalists experienced abuse and harassment in 2016, including nine at the hands of government forces and 20 who faced police charges.

The Committee to Protect Journalists, meanwhile, says 21 journalists have been killed since 1992, including 16 with impunity. Horrific murders of seven secular bloggers by Islamic militants since 2013 add to the tally of egregious acts.

The combined onslaught of restrictions and attacks on freedom of speech mean Bangladesh has scored very poorly in a 2017 report by Freedom House, a U.S.-based democracy and media freedom monitor, with the status "not free" attributed to the South Asian state.

Aside from infrequent and ineffective public protests by rights groups such as Amnesty International and the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders, journalists and freethinkers in Bangladesh have no good friends to defend or protect them.

Muzzling dissent and intimidation

Last year, Mahfuz Anam, editor of leading Bangladeshi English newspaper the Daily Star, came under fire from the government after he conceded in a TV interview he had published unsubstantiated reports of corruption fed by the military intelligence agency during an army-backed state of emergency, 2007-2008.

Prime Minister Hasina called for Anam's resignation, while her son called for his prosecution for treason. This encouraged Awami League activists to file 62 criminal defamation and 17 sedition cases against Anam in 53 courts across the country. The lawsuits altogether totaled over US$8 billion.

Anam was forced to move across the country to secure bail orders before the High Court ruled against the court cases.

Matiur Rahman, editor of Prothom Alo (First Light), Bangladesh's highest-selling Bengali daily, and journalists associated with the paper are currently facing court charges for criminal defamation and "hurting religious sentiments."

Many believe the ire against the country's top two newspapers is payback for criticizing the government for failing to hold free and fair elections in 2014. The two papers have experienced significant financial setbacks thanks to the government wrath.

In August 2015, the military intelligence agency reportedly ordered some 20 large companies not to advertise in the Daily Star or Prothom Alo. The ban was allegedly triggered by their respective reports on the killings of five men in the restive Chittagong Hill Tracts. They labeled the slain as "indigenous peoples" rather than "terrorists," as the army officials would have preferred.

Overnight, the papers lost 30 percent of their advertising income, putting their very existence at stake. The government and military have denied allegations of the ban order, but it continues today.

The government's actions have clearly sent a chill down the spines of the media establishment. None of their peers have dared to report on the unwritten and unlawful ban. A senior correspondent at the Daily Star recently claimed in a private meeting that the paper's reporters are "unofficially banned" from attending events with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Abuse of restrictive, ambiguous laws

Bangladesh has a British colonial-era 1898 code of criminal procedure in which articles 295-298 rule that anyone who offends the religious sentiment of its citizens be punished.

This law doesn't provide any clear-cut definition of religious sentiment, nor how religious sentiment can be hurt. Clearly however, it is widely abused by the state and non-state actors, including Islamic radicals, against journalists and so-called atheist bloggers to intimidate them and to force them from writing on radicalism and any cohesion between politics and religion.

Section 57 of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Act 2013 has made it the most draconian law against freedom of speech in Bangladesh's modern history. The law makes it illegal to publish any material over the internet that would "deteriorate law and order," prejudice the image of the state or an individual or defame religion. It gives police the powers to make an arrest without a warrant, with a maximum sentencing of 14 years' jail time and a fine of 1 million taka (US$12,288).

This law has been used to harass journalists, bloggers, writers and publishers in recent years. In 2015, a disabled journalist was arrested for reporting on Hindu property-grabbing by a Muslim government minister, while four bloggers were arrested for "hurting religious sentiment."

Amid the criticism at home and abroad, the government recently decided to drop Section 57 of the ICT law. Now, activists and critics have been alarmed with the forthcoming Digital Security Act, where this repressive law is poised to make comeback in a reworded format.

Last year, the Foreign Donations (Voluntary Activities) Regulation Act 2016 was passed equivocally. It allows the NGO Bureau — a state body under the Prime Minister's Office — to suspend registration or to close an organization down if it makes any "derogatory" remarks about the constitution or "constitutional bodies," which includes the parliament, the election commission, the comptroller and auditor general, the attorney general's office, the public service commission and the judiciary.

Critics say the law is aimed at silencing outspoken non-government agencies that press government to check on corruption, to ensure good governance and human rights.

While Islamic militants targeted secular bloggers and writers for their criticisms of religious malpractices, especially of Islam, the government didn't stand beside them. Instead, the prime minister and police chief publicly admonished the writers for crossing a line.

Amidst a dark atmosphere and death threats, more than a dozen bloggers and freethinkers have fled the country and settled in Europe and America. Those who couldn't leave have employed self-censorship in their writings and continue to maintain a low profile.

A blow to democracy and development

Bangladesh had endured 15 years of military rule before 1990. Yet, the country made significant strides in socio-economic development over recent decades, including almost self-sufficient food production, poverty reduction, lowering maternal and infant mortality, and almost 100 percent primary school enrollment.

A big credit for these advancements goes to a vibrant media, the tireless activities of development groups and critical appraisal by civil society groups. Despite the dirty-rotten, blood-feuding politics between the two major political parties, the fledgling democracy has thrived thanks to public support for free speech and media freedom.

Thus, the growing threat to free speech, from both the state and non-state actors, undermines Bangladesh's democratization and development progress. Bangladesh needs to wake up and the international community must act on restoring free speech before it's too late.

END

Original story here 

A tribute to a master storyteller

Humayun Ahmed, Bangladesh’s most popular writer of the century was laid to rest today at Nuhash Palli, a countryside farmland and residence, about 50 kms from capital Dhaka that he created and cherished himself.

He breathed his last  at New York’s Bellevue hospital last Thursday.

The sad news sent shockwave across the nation and the country is still mourning his death heavily. The kind of coverage he drew from local media over a week can well be something anyone on earth can be envious of.

Tens of thousands from all walks of society, young people surpassing all others lined up on the streets to pay final respects to Ahmed as his dead body arrived home early Monday.

They were sad because they won’t line up at Bangla Academy premises during largest Ekushey Book Fair to see their favorite writer and taking an autograph at most.

They cried as if their very dear one has passed away and placed Ahmed’s favorite local flower called ‘Kadam’ that blooms aplenty during monsoon.

The sad scenario that has prevailed in the country over the week is simply incredible but not surprising at all.

Ahmed was not only the bestselling author of around 200 fictions he wrote, but he reaped overwhelming and unmatched success and popularity he dealt with in lifetime.

It was just by chance he became a writer. He was student of science and became a professor of chemistry at Dhaka University.

In 1972 when he penned his first novel Nondito Noroke (In Blissful Hell), it brought him immediate success and popularity, and it changed his life forever. He left teaching to become a fulltime writer.

He wrote novels, short stories, TV drama, composed music, directed award-winning films on his writings. Some his characters became larger than life.

He won many national and international awards for his contribution to literature, drama and cinema.

However, few people knew he was also a good magician and owned the largest herbal and medicinal garden in the country.

He was indeed a ‘magician of words’ who knew so well to communicate his thoughts and imagination to ordinary people.

He was the first to realize that the language of literature should be simple and shouldn’t be treated as property of highly educated people.

He wrote in colloquial language flavored with deadpan humor, intelligence and knowledge- a rare quality for a writer in Bengali literature- for people irrespective of age, class, gender and religion.

Before him Bangladesh used to be full with writings on India-born Bengali writers, but Ahmed single-handedly broke the deadlock and helped breathe country’s publishing industry from the stranglehold.

After his death Sunil Ganguly, a top Indian Bengali author called Ahmed “the most popular Bengali writer of the century.”  He is the only Bangladeshi writer to get such acclaim.

In 1999 I first read one of Humayun Ahmed’s children fictions called ‘Botol Bhut’ (The Bottle Ghost). It was so interesting that I started believing that if the bottle ghost was real and began reading a number of books he already wrote.

As I studied English literature in college I felt Ahmed’s literature was by far ‘low quality’, as traditional critics used to say. But later realized that he has already created a unique style of writing and deep mourning of his death proves how popular he was.

For sometime after graduation I didn’t have a job and tried to survive with little pay from private tuitions. I stayed with some other bachelor friends like me and we used to be frustrated with life at the end of the day.

Every night we used to watch some films and drama, and those directed or written by Ahmed was our premium choice. They were not only educative but also humorous; they used to help us forget all pains and sufferings of life, at least for some time. Again, I started reading his writings.

Bangladesh and Bengali people across the globe will miss him forever, but he will live with them through his creative arts.

I too miss him and also pray for his departed soul and his bereaved family.

An abridged version of this post was published at UCAN Blogs on July 25, 2012

'Legendary Storyteller' passes away

Humayun Ahmed, the most popular Bangladeshi writer of his time has passed away yesterday at a hospital in New York while undergoing treatment for cancer that was diagnosed last year. He was 64.

His death news has sent shockwave across the nation as it arrived last night. President Zillur Rahman, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Opposition leader Khaleda Zia have deeply mourned the death of Ahmed.

In his condolence message the President said that Humayun Ahmed’s creative works would remain immortal in Bengali literature. He prayed for eternal peace of his departed and also conveyed sympathy the bereaved family, according to state-run Bangladesh News Agency (BSS).

“The nation will never forget Humayun Ahmed’s great contribution to Bengali literature, drama and films,” said Prime Minister Hasina.

Opposition chief Khaleda Zia said that death of Humayun Ahmed is an ‘unrepayable loss’ to the nation and the country.

“Death of Humayun Ahmed is like falling of a star. It is indeed a great loss,” said a prominent writer Anisul Haque.

Haque, also a journalist pointed out another great contribution of Ahmed. “Through his writings he has created overwhelming readership, something very promising for present-day writers who can reap this benefit.”


Ahmed began his career as professor of Chemistry at Dhaka University, country’s highest educational institution and also obtained doctorate degree on the subject from North Dakota State University in the US.

He later left teaching and became fulltime writer, dramatist and filmmaker. In 1972, while still a student at DU he wrote first novel, Nondito Noroke (The Acclaimed Hell) that brought him huge popularity and critical acclaim. His second novel, Shankhanil Karagar (The Conch-blue Prison) was equally successful.

Ahmed is one of the most prolific writers in Bengali literature authoring around 200 novels to his credit. He also wrote science fiction and created some fictitious characters like Himu and Misir Ali who became immensely popular like him.

His first TV drama was Ei Shob Din Ratri (Tale of our daily lives), followed by Bohubrihi (Tale of Family), Ayomoy (The man who would not die), Kothao Keu Nei (Nobody Anywhere), Nakshatrer Raat (The Night of the Stars), all because widely popular and successful.

His unique making made people perceive that if the characters were fictitious but real and they even protested when a popular character ‘Baker Bhai’ was executed in the drama.
Ahmed won the National Film Award in total eight categories, including Best Picture and Best Director, on his debut film, "Aguner Parashmoni" (The Touchstone of Fire), based on the liberation war 1971.


He often worked on liberation war and middle-class life crisis, largely because killing of his father by the Pakistani occupation force had a great impact on his works.

Ahmed received a number of awards home and abroad. Major literary awards include Bangladesh Academy Award 1981 and Ekushey Padak 1994. He also won three national film awards- best story 1993, Best Film 1994 and Best Script 1994. 


On Jan this year the government gave the writer a diplomatic position, Senior Special Adviser, at the country's Permanent Mission at the United Nations, allowing him certain privileges in the city where he was being treated and living with the family.


The writer is survived by two sons with second wife Shaon, and three daughters and a son with his former wife Gultekin.


*Click here or here to read more about Humayun Ahmed and his works*