Salah Choudhury

Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury was arrested on 29 November 2003, while trying to attend a seminar in Tel Aviv on the invitation of the International Forum for the Literature and Culture of Peace. He was charged with sedition, treason and blasphemy in 2003. A case was filed against him on 24 January 2004 by Mohammad Abdul Hanif, head of Airport Police Station of Dhaka, who claimed that he was a Mossad agent based on the documents found in his possession. On 9 January 2014, he was convicted by a Dhaka court of sedition under section 505 (A) of Bangladesh's Penal Code.

Choudhury is facing charges of sedition, treason, blasphemy, and espionage since January 2004 for having tried to attend a conference of the Hebrew Writers' Association in Tel Aviv. He violated the Passport Act, by attempting to travel to Israel in November 2003. The Act forbids citizens from visiting countries with which Bangladesh does not maintain diplomatic relations, usually punishable by a fine of $8. It may be mentioned here that Bangladesh currently does not have diplomatic relations with Taiwan and Israel. However, the travel ban on Taiwan was silently lifted while people started the business with Taiwan in spite of the travel ban. On 29 November, he was taken into police custody and, as he tells it, blindfolded, beaten and interrogated for 10 days in an attempt to extract a confession that he was spying for Israel. He spent the next 17 months in solitary confinement, and was denied medical treatment for his glaucoma. On the intervention of US Congressman Mark Kirk, who spoke to Bangladesh's ambassador to the US, Choudhury was released on bail, though the charges were not dropped.

Choudhury was arrested on 29 November 2003, at Dhaka airport when he was found to be carrying discs and papers containing information on "sensitive issues including minority repression and the al Qaeda network in Bangladesh". His movements had been monitored for some time, on suspicion of his connection with the Israeli secret service Mossad.

Choudhury's father Ghulam Ather Choudhuri died on 29 March 2003, while his mother Sharifa Choudhury died on 9 August 2005. He was in prison when his mother died. The then-government in Bangladesh refused a petition by his family for him to attend his mother's funeral.

In July 2006, a mob stormed the premises of Choudhury's tabloid and beat him, fracturing his ankle. In September, a judge ordered the case continued, in spite of the government's reluctance to prosecute, as Choudhury had "spoiled" the "image of Bangladesh" and "hurt the sentiments of Muslims" by lauding Jews, Hindus and Christians. After the police detail that had been posted to Weekly Blitz's offices since the July bombing had vanished, the offices were ransacked and Choudhury was badly beaten by a mob. When he lodged a formal complaint with the police, an arrest warrant was issued for him. The US Embassy in Dhaka sent an observer to his trial.

In July 2006, the office of this newspaper was bombed by Islamist militants.

The European Parliament made a Motion for Resolution on 14 November 2006, in defense of Choudhury.

Choudhury has written a number of books in Bengali and English. His latest book, Injustice & Jihad, was published in October 2007. In May 2008, the Italian publication house Neftasia published Choudhury's book titled Non Sono Colpevole (I Am Not Guilty) in Italian. This was the first book by any contemporary Bangladeshi journalist translated into Italian.

On 15 February 2007, House Resolution 64 passed the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs without opposition. The resolution, introduced by Representatives Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Nita Lowey (D-NY), called on the government of Bangladesh to drop all charges against Choudhury, who was charged with sedition for writing pro-Israel reports. The penalty for conviction could be death. The vote on the resolution was held on 13 March 2007 and the resolution passed by a vote of 409 to 1, with 4 members voting present.

On 18 March 2008, members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) abducted Choudhury from his office at gunpoint. He was blindfolded and taken to RAB office. In the late hours, he was released. Series of written complaints were sent with the military-controlled interim government on this incident, but no action was ever taken by the Bangladesh authorities against the RAB men.

In March 2008, members of Rapid Action Battalion raided the office of Weekly Blitz and arrested its editor from the office; the editor was released after several hours.

Inside Madrassa was published in October 2009 in Bangladesh. In this book, Choudhury gave extensive information on madrassa education, including unknown facts, Jihadist orientation inside madrassa, hate speech, and many other important thus interesting topics, mostly related to radical Islam.

On 22 February 2009, armed thugs claiming to belong to ruling Bangladesh Awami League entered Choudhury's office, ransacked the entire office, and physically assaulted him and other members of the Weekly Blitz newspaper.

In March 2011, Aryeh Yosef Gallin, founder and president of the Root and Branch Association which is a nonprofit group that promotes co-operation between Israel and other nations, expelled Choudhury from its Islam-Israel Fellowship after reports surfaced that the Bangladeshi had bilked "emotionally vulnerable single Jewish ladies" out of tens of thousands of dollars.

On 7 November 2012, the Dhaka court sent Choudhury to jail in connection with an embezzlement case filed by his business partner Sajjad Hossain, chairman of Bangladesh Center for International Studies. He was convicted in 2015 by the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate court and sentenced to four years of rigorous imprisonment.