| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"" |
| Date: |
20 Mar 2007 02:21:07 PM |
| Object: |
Rouben Mohiuddin On Major Mohiuddin AKM Ahmed |
http://www.topix.net/forum/us/federal-court-9th/TLGP5P8H23SS111H0
By Rouben Mohiuddin
Part 1
My father's name is Mohiuddin AKM Ahmed. In America he is know as Din.
My father is a victim of political revenge and he is being deported to
a country known for torture and corruption.
In 1975 he was a young major serving faithfully in the Bangladesh
Army. In 1975 the president of Bangladesh was Sheik Mujibur Rahman.
Mujibur ruled by his absolute authority for four and a half years and
nobody dared or was allowed to challenge him.
In 1974, Sheik Mujibur declared a national emergency and stopped all
democratic activities and ruthlessly suppressed any one who opposed
him. There was no freedom of speech, no open politics, most newspapers
and publications banned and all fundamental rights were
suspended.
One party rule was introduced in January 1975 and Mujibur became
president.
By the summer of '75 mass starvation and political murders pushed the
military to take action. Bangladesh was on the verge of collapsing
with the government stealing all foreign aid. According to Dr. Henry
Kissinger, in the early 70s, Bangladesh was "a bottomless basket"
where any foreign aid disappeared.
On August 15th, 1975 my father was on military night maneuvers, a
common training practice during his years in the army. But that night
his superiors ordered maneuvers in support of what they claimed was a
peaceful coup. It was their intention to force the president to step
down and turn over power to a caretaker government.
My father obeyed what he considered to be lawful orders from superior
officers to set up a roadblock on a main city street more than one
mile from one of the presidential homes.
The next morning Din, along with the rest of Bangladesh, learned that
during the coup, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and some family members had,
regretfully, been killed when the president's bodyguards fought back
the soldiers trying to place Sheikh Mujibur Rahman under military
arrest. My father was not in the palace that night. He was a mile
away.
After the coup, the country did in fact shift to a democratic
government and democracy has been part of Bangladesh since, except for
brief subsequent coups and political assassinations. Even the US
Government, which had never acknowledged Bangladesh before,
immediately established a diplomatic relationship with the post-coup
new government in 1975.
Some time after the coup, those involved were absolved by the
Government of Bangladesh for any wrongdoing, and many members of the
military were promoted in rank or joined the diplomatic service.
======================================================================
Part 2
In fact, the Bangladeshi government assigned Din to be posted overseas
as part of the diplomatic corp. and he traveled extensively,
stationing in various countries such as Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia,
Algeria, Thailand and others. Throughout all this time, 20 years, Din
honored his country as a diplomat with exemplary conduct and extreme
dignity. He was Deputy Ambassador of Bangladesh in Saudi Arabia during
the Gulf War, and was the head of the Bangladeshi mission in Iraq from
1993 to 1996. His Iraq assignment was the equivalent of Ambassador.
But then the political winds shifted. In 1996, in Bangladesh, Sheikh
Hasina, the surviving daughter of the president who was killed in
1975, came to power and promised "justice"[revenge] against anybody
who was involved in the coup of '75, regardless of their actual
involvement, and regardless of the constitution that prohibited
punishment against members in the military present during that '75
coup. A double standard is apparent here as some high-ranking
officials, involved in the '75 coup, are now part of Sheikh Hasina's
political party and therefore are still living in freedom in
Bangladesh.
Din, along with several other men accused of the murder, was tried in
absentia in 1996. Yes, it is true, that my father could have gone back
to Bangladesh to try and defend himself but he knew he would not be
safe and would not get a fair trial. I know it's hard for Americans to
understand but, sadly, my country is very corrupt and so poor that
eyewitness testimony can be bought for as little as one hundred
dollars. And when the trial is politically stacked against you even
the defense lawyers are either biased against those whom they are
charged with defending, or in danger for their advocacy. It was widely
reported then that even a few members of the defense team who were
strenuously defending the accused were publicly threatened by the
Awami league, and agitated members of the public stripped and beat
those lawyers in the courthouse.
Besides the false testimony supplied by paid witnesses, other
witnesses could not recall, 20 years later, who was or who was not in
the palace that dark night. In fact some witnesses claimed my father
was in the palace but then realized that they were actually referring
to a different man, with the same name as my father, but with a
different rank. Various witnesses even recalled my father as being in
more than one place at once.
Din was lawfully present in the United States when he applied for
political asylum under the United Nations Torture Convention because
his life and his family were in danger, given the unstable political
situation back home. Meanwhile Sheikh Hasina dismissed all the judges
assigned to the case of the '75 coup and appointed her own judges de
facto creating a kangaroo court which sentenced Din to be hanged.
======================================================================
Part 3
Din then followed the bureaucratic path of political asylum under the
immigration laws of the US, and under the United Nations Convention.
Everything seemed to be proceeding well until 9/11. After that date,
with the rapid passage of the Patriot Act and the creation of Homeland
Security, my father was excluded from the protection granted by the
immigration laws and the torture convention. During the ten year fight
to stay in America my father never broke any laws in this country. He
is a gentle and peaceful soul who has worked within the US courts
system to fight deportation to a country known for torture and
corruption.
Clearly my father is a scapegoat in a much larger political game in
both the US and in Bangladesh. Sheikh Hasina fanned the flames by
calling Din a "terrorist", knowing how much the American government
dreads this term, to get Din extradited and finally hang him.
Sadly, my country of Bangladesh is currently in crisis once again. As
recently as January 27 people have been killed in political riots and
assassinations. It is a highly charged situation and my father has no
hope in surviving upon his return. Even according to the most recent
US State Department Report on Human Rights, Bangladesh is plagued by
torture and political murders. Sheikh Hasina and her political party
want revenge, without regard for the truth.
My father has no one to help him. He honorably served the military for
nine years and as a diplomat for another 20 years, throughout eight
successive administrations of Bangladesh governments. My father is not
a terrorist and is guilty of nothing except trusting in a system
blinded by politics.
If the US insists on deporting my father he will continue the fight in
Bangladesh. He will face his accusers and reopen the case. Major
political and military officials will be forced to take the stand and
the truth will finally come out. I hope everyone, who is interested in
the truth, will spread the word in Bangladesh that my father is ready
for the fight. This is far from over. In fact it's just began.
Rouben Mohiuddin
3/17/07
======================================================================
[Mohiuddin A.K.M. Ahmed, a former Bangladeshi military officer
convicted in absentia for his role in the 1975 assassination of his
country's first prime minister, has been arrested in Southern
California, authorities said Wednesday, March 14, 2007. Ahmed, 60, was
arrested Tuesday morning at his Los Angeles home, said U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Lori Haley]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/14/AR2007031402869.html
Figure in Bangladesh Coup Arrested in LA
By DAISY NGUYEN
The Associated Press
Wednesday, March 14, 2007; 11:16 PM
LOS ANGELES -- A former Bangladeshi military officer convicted in
absentia for his role in the 1975 assassination of his country's first
prime minister has been arrested, authorities said Wednesday.
Mohiuddin A.K.M. Ahmed, 60, was arrested Tuesday morning at his Los
Angeles home, said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
spokeswoman Lori Haley.
Ahmed had been sought by Bangladesh's government since he and 14
others were convicted in 1998 for the murder of Prime Minister Mujibur
Rahman in an Aug. 15, 1975 military coup. All were sentenced to death.
Ahmed was convicted in absentia because he had entered the United
States in 1996 on a visitor's visa. He applied for permission to stay
in the country permanently but was ordered to return to Bangladesh to
face the criminal charges.
The immigration case dragged on for several years as he appealed a
deportation order handed down by an immigration judge in 2002. Late
last month, a judge in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San
Francisco denied his petition to review the case, allowing the order
to stand.
Authorities will begin proceedings to return him to Bangladesh, said
Brian DeMore, the immigration enforcement agency's deputy field
director.
"This case has been followed very closely by ICE," DeMore said. "After
the 9th Circuit denied his petition to review the case, (Ahmed) became
a fugitive in the U.S."
It was not immediately known whether Ahmed had an attorney.
Abu Zafar, the consul general of Bangladesh in Los Angeles, said he
was not aware of Ahmed's arrest and declined to comment.
U.S. authorities said Ahmed represented the Bangladeshi government in
a variety of foreign diplomatic posts in the two decades following
Rahman's assassination.
Rahman, popularly known as "Sheikh Mujib," led Bangladesh's
independence war against Pakistan in 1971. He was gunned down at his
Dhaka residence by military men who also killed most of his family and
a number of trusted aides.
Rahman's killers granted themselves amnesty. They were not brought to
trial until Rahman's surviving daughter, Sheik Hasina, became prime
minister in 1996.
======================================================================
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