Tasneem Khalil
Update: There are reports that Tasneem has been released, but so far they seem to be reporting each other, all reporting something Human Rights Watch said. It’s not absolutely clear how HRW knows – although Tasneem works for them, so they probably do know. Still, I’ll feel happier when some major media report it. But it’s the middle of the night everywhere but Seattle; no doubt by the time I get on the computer tomorrow there will be lots of major media reports.
This is terrible. I know Tasneem – well not know, exactly, but we’ve swapped emails, he’s a fan of B&W and sends me links to his excellent articles; I think of him as a friend in Bangladesh. I also think of him as a brave, at risk friend in Bangladesh, and sure enough, they showed up at midnight and took him away. This is not good. Bangladesh does not have a good record on this kind of thing – which is exactly what Tasneem has been reporting on – which is why they showed up at midnight and took him away. Make noise. If you have any way to make noise (blog, newspaper, captive audience, etc), make it. Spread it around. I was alerted by an email from Tasneem’s wife (sent to a bunch of people); I forwarded it to a few people who can make noise; I even took the liberty of forwarding it to Amartya Sen. No, I don’t know him, but I was pretty sure he’d be interested, so why not.
Hm – I know what I could do. I could break protocol and tell everyone on the B&W mailing list – that’s over a thousand people, many of whom are journalists or academics or BBC producers with inside knowledge of silencing by oppressive regimes (well not many of those that I know of, only one). Yeah, that’s what I’ll do. You do something too if you can.
OK.
What confuses me is that “The military”/security/spooks/kgb types never seem to learn, do they?
Roughing people like Yasneem up, and/or torturing killing them only works in the short term.
in the end, eventually, the worm(s) turn, and it was all for nothing.
Or can’t they see beyond the next few weeks, or couple of years?
Is it really that they are that stupid?
BTW & PS:
Remember Aung San Suu Kyi
G Tingey, I regret that you are right, they don’t seem to learn. I think its because the crime lacks a visible cost to them personally, the individual who has the power to act or to refrain.
Tasneem is a great guy, we’ve exchanged e-mails a couple of times. Whatever we can do, petition or just make sure the issue is flagged on every blog we frequent, then we should do asap.
Perhaps worth flagging to some of the more amenable CiFers at Guardian online ?
Not me though, I’m banned ;-)
INDYMEDIA from various countries would put it up on their sites. I will try the Irish one. Perhaps, even emailing same to various politicians would be a good idea. What do you reckon out there, eh?
There’s an update on one of the blogs covering this, reporting a promise that Tasneem will be released at 9:30 p.m. Dhaka time. Let’s hope so.
Sunny at PP is organizing a demonstration at the Bangladeshi embassy in London Sunday, but maybe it won’t be needed. Let’s hope so.
Other are noticing it:
http://tinyurl.com/2h64la
Unheard Voices reports that he’s out.
http://www.drishtipat.org/blog/2007/05/10/tasneem-khalil-picked-up-by-army
Good news. Now what of those who don’t have voices to shout out for them?
Except voices like Tasneem’s.
We’re writing a book about those.