Chowdhury Mueen Uddin
Chowdhury Mueen Uddin ( Bengali চৌধুরী মঈনুদ্দীন ; born November 27, 1948 in Chanpur, Feni District, East Pakistan , today Bangladesh ) is a former Bangladeshi activist of the Islamist party or group Jamaat-e-Islami . After Bangladesh gained independence in 1971, he emigrated to the United Kingdom , whose citizenship he now has in addition to Bangladeshi. In Great Britain he held prominent positions in Muslim institutions. In May 2013, he was charged with the joint kidnapping and murder of 16 Bengali intellectuals during the 1971 War of Independence in Bangladesh and sentenced to death in the absence of a special tribunal on November 3, 2013 . Mueen Uddin denies the crimes he is charged with.
biography
In East Pakistan
Chowdhury Mueen Uddin was born in 1948 in the village of Chanpur in the Feni district in what was then East Pakistan. At the time the War of Independence broke out in East Pakistan, he was studying for a Masters in the Bengali Language Department at Dhaka University . At the same time he worked as a reporter for the Daily Purbadesh newspaper . He was also one of the key leaders of the Islami Chatra Sangh student organization of the Jamaat-e-Islami . According to the later allegations made against him, he was also a leading figure in the paramilitary militia al-Badr ( Arabic البدر, "The full moon"), which acted as a kind of auxiliary force of the regular Pakistani army to suppress the Bangladeshi independence movement. After the defeat of Pakistan and the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, Mueen Uddin emigrated to Pakistan and later to the United Kingdom, where he took up residence in the London borough of Tottenham .
In the United Kingdom
In Great Britain, Mueen Uddin later became active in various functions in the Islamic community. In 1989 he was a prominent spokesperson in the campaign that preceded the fatwa against Salman Rushdie for his book The Satanic Verses . Around 1989 he helped found the Islamic Forum of Europe , a European offshoot of Jamaat-e-Islami. Until 2010 he was the vice-chairman of the East London Mosque . Mueen Uddin played an important role in founding the Muslim Council of Britain in 1997 as a kind of umbrella organization for Muslims in Great Britain. He was appointed trustee of the British Muslim charity Muslim Aid . In the National Health Service he was responsible for the organization of pastoral care for Muslim patients in a leading position.
On May 3, 1995, the British broadcaster Channel 4 aired an investigative report on the series Dispatches under the title War Crimes Files , in which serious allegations were made against some prominent Muslims living in the United Kingdom. Specifically, three people were accused of being involved in grave human rights crimes in Bangladesh in 1971: Lutfur Rahman , imam of a mosque in Birmingham and a leader of Dawatul Islam , a foreign organization of Jamaat-e-Islami, Abu Sayeed , headmaster of a Muslim school and elected member of the education committee of Tower Hamlets College , and Chowdhury Mueen Uddin. All three denied the allegations.
When the Guardian published an article Prosecute Bangladesh's war criminals in 2009 , which also mentioned Mueen Uddin, Mueen Uddin's lawyers forced him to issue an apology and counter-statement in which it was stressed that Mueen Uddin was never prosecuted, charged or even arrested in connection with these crimes.
War crimes trial in Bangladesh 2013
From the general election in Bangladesh in 2008 that went Awami League under Sheikh Hasina out victorious. During the election campaign, the Awami League had promised to legally deal with the serious human rights crimes that had occurred during the war that led to Bangladesh's independence in 1971 . This also happened and the International Crimes Tribunal ("International Crimes Tribunal") was set up, which in the following period indicted several alleged war criminals.
On May 27, 2013, charges were brought against Chowdhury Mueen Uddin and Ashrafuzzaman Khan . Both were charged with the murder of 18 Bengali intellectuals in Dhaka between December 10 and December 15, 1971. The murder victims were university professors, doctors and journalists. On May 27, 2013, the tribunal officially determined that both defendants were apparently intangible and decided to open the case in the absence of the defendants. Two lawyers were appointed to defend the defendants. According to the prosecution, the said intellectuals were kidnapped from their homes by al-Badr militiamen that night, transported to fields outside the city, where they were brutally tortured and murdered. Most of the perpetrators of their crimes wore masks and did not give their names. In their investigation, the prosecution relied primarily on investigative reports that were published shortly after the end of the war and that charged Mueen Uddin as a commander of al-Badr.
Mueen Uddin specifically asked journalists for their home addresses. They had become suspicious and gave him wrong addresses and these wrong addresses were later found on al-Badr's death lists. According to the prosecution, the documents also showed that Mueen Uddin was not only a member but also a leading head of al-Badr. Al-Badr's aim was evidently in the last days of the war, before the looming military defeat, in a kind of revenge campaign , to eliminate prominent Bengali intellectuals who had spoken out against the Islamic state model of Pakistan and in favor of a secular, independent state of Bangladesh. Captured al-Badr members testified against Mueen Uddin after the end of the war and investigative newspaper reports, not only in Bangladesh but also in international newspapers, described Mueen Uddin as the leading perpetrator.
“Chowdhury Mainuddin [Mueen Uddin], a member of the banned fanatic Jamaat Islam Party, has been described as the 'Operation in Charge' of the killing of intellectuals in Dacca by Abdul Khaleque, a captured ring leader of the Al-Badr and office -bearer of the Jamaat-e-Islam. The fascist Al-Badr force was responsible for the killing of the intellectuals backed by the Pakistan Army before their humiliating surrender. Chowdhury Mainuddin has been absconding presumably since December 16. ”
“Chowdhury Mainuddin [Mueen Uddin], a member of the banned fanatical Jamaat Islam party, has been described by Abdul Khaleque, an arrested leader of al-Badr and officer of Jamaat-e-Islam, as the one responsible for the killings of intellectuals in Dacca. The fascist al-Badr force was responsible for the killing of the intellectuals that the Pakistani army manned shortly before their humiliating defeat. Chowdhury Mainuddin has allegedly left since December 16. "
“Chowdhury Mueen Uddin who was a pleasant, well-mannered and intelligent young man had been working in the Bengali-language paper named The Daily Purbadesh. [...] Mr. Mueenuddin has been identified as the head of a secret, commando-like organization of fanatic Muslims that murdered several hundred prominent Bengali professors, doctors, lawyers and journalists in a Dacca brickyard ... ”
“Chowdhury Mueen Uddin was a kind, intelligent young man with pleasant manners who worked for a Bengali-language newspaper called the Daily Purbadesh. [...] Mr. Mueenuddin was identified as the head of a secret commando organization of fanatical Muslims who murdered several hundred prominent Bengali professors, doctors, lawyers and journalists in a brick factory in Dacca ... "
Numerous testimonies from immediate relatives were heard by the tribunal. The defense did not deny the crimes themselves, but doubted the evidence was sufficient to identify Chowdhury Mueen Uddin as either responsible or involved. However, the court agreed on all points of the indictment and sentenced on November 3, 2013, both defendants to death by train .
Mueen Uddin denied the allegations against which he was charged. He denied ever having been a member of al-Badr. In several public interviews, he called the Bangladeshi tribunal "a joke" that would lead "a sham trial" ( "The tribunal in Bangladesh is a joke. It's a sham trial they are conducting." ). The whole process is "corrupted". He said he was ready to face a fair trial, but the tribunal in Bangladesh was neither fair nor impartial. So far, Bangladesh has not submitted an extradition request. This would also have little chance of success, since the United Kingdom does not extradite persons to countries in which the accused face the death penalty .
Web links
- Chowdhury Mueen Uddin , personal website of Chowdhury Mueen Uddin (English)
- Extradite Chowdhury Mueen Uddin , website of his opponents
Individual evidence
- ↑ the name can be found both with and without a hyphen ('Mueen-Uddin')
- ↑ Suliman Niloy, Quazi Shahreen Haq, Golam Mujtoba Dhrubo: Ashraf, Mueen to hang for murder intellectuals. bd24news, November 3, 2013, accessed on February 17, 2016 (English).
- ↑ a b c d e f The Chief Prosecutor Vs (1) Ashrafuzzaman Khan @ Naeb Ali Khan (absconded) & (2) Chowdhury Mueen Uddin (absconded). (PDF) International Crimes Tribunal-2 [ICT-2], November 2, 2013, accessed on February 16, 2016 (English).
- ↑ Abul Taher: HS boss faces death penalty over charges of torture and 18 murders in Bangladesh. In: Mail Online. Associated Newspapers Ltd, April 14, 2013, accessed February 17, 2016 .
- ^ The War Crimes files. BBC Channel 4, May 3, 1995, accessed February 16, 2016 .
- ↑ Stephen Ward: British Muslims deny war atrocities. The Independent , May 3, 1995, accessed February 17, 2016 .
- ^ Editor of the Corrections and clarifications column: Corrections and clarifications: Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin. The Guardian, October 7, 2009, accessed February 25, 2016 .
- ↑ Muktasree Chakma Sathi: Arrest warrant against 2 al-Badr operatives issued. (No longer available online.) Dhaka Tribune, May 2, 2013, archived from the original on February 17, 2016 ; accessed on February 17, 2016 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b Julfikar Ali Manik, Muktasree Chakma Sathi: Media recognized this traitor much earlier. (No longer available online.) Dhaka Tribune , November 5, 2013, archived from the original on February 17, 2016 ; accessed on February 17, 2016 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ A Journalist Is Linked To Murder of Bengalis. (PDF) The New York Times, January 3, 1972, accessed February 25, 2016 .
- ↑ Julfikar Ali Manik: War trial 'a joke': Fugitive top accused of intellectual killings gives outrageous interview to Al Jazeera TV. The Daily Star, accessed February 17, 2016 .
- ↑ Chowdhury Mueen Uddin says Bangladesh war crime trial was 'corrupt'. BBC News, November 4, 2013, accessed February 17, 2016 .
- ↑ Divya Talwar: War crimes-accused Chowdhury Mueen Uddin 'will clear name'. BBC News, June 19, 2013, accessed February 17, 2016 .
- ↑ No request made for Tarique's extradition. (No longer available online.) Dhaka Tribune, January 22, 2015, archived from the original on February 17, 2016 ; accessed on February 17, 2016 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Mueen-Uddin's extradition unlikely. bdnews24.com, November 4, 2013, accessed February 17, 2016 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Mueen Uddin, Chowdhury |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | চৌধুরী মঈনুদ্দীন (Bengali) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Bangladeshi-British politician of the Jamaat-e-Islami |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 27, 1948 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Chanpur, East Pakistan |