PRO-ISRAEL JOURNO ATTACKED BY MOB IN BANGLADESH

Pro-Israeli Bangladeshi editor beaten by crowd including state officials (JPost)

A Muslim journalist facing charges of sedition for advocating ties with Israel was recently attacked and beaten by a crowd in Bangladesh that allegedly included leading officials of the country’s ruling party, The Jerusalem Post has learned. Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, editor of the Weekly Blitz newspaper, an English-language publication based in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka, was working in his office on October 5 when nearly 40 people stormed the premises. The mob beat Choudhury, leaving him with a fractured ankle, and looted cash that was kept in the company safe. Choudhury was briefly hospitalized. According to a statement appearing on the Web site of the Weekly Blitz, the attackers were led by Helal Khan, international affairs secretary of Jasas, and included Babul Ahmed, Jasas’s secretary-general. Jasas is the cultural wing of the ruling Bangladeshi National Party (BNP). During the assault, Ahmed is said to have shouted at Choudhury, labeling him an “agent of the Jews.” In a photo taken shortly after the incident that was obtained exclusively by the Post, Choudhury can be seen hunched over a table wearing a torn shirt while a Bangladeshi policeman dressed in blue chats with two BNP officials. Both officials took part in the attack. No arrests were made, and police refused to allow Choudhury to file charges against his attackers.