As the initial euphoria over the arrested political leaders dies down, concerns are now seriously beginning to crepe in whether due process is being followed to prosecute these people. While some of you may actually be happy in seeing some of these leaders in jail, if you dig down a little deeper, you will want to ask if due process is being followed to convict these people on accurate charges. The problem with not following due process is two folds. Not only there is a chance an innocent being taken away, the danger is that for not following due process, all of the real goons will have to be released eventually with the government cases falling on the way side. On my first writing after the arrests happened, I asked the question why Mr. Mohiuddin Alamgir was arrested as we know the government of BNP left no stone unturned to try him to prosecute without success.

Whether it is a balancing act or whether it is a rogue element in the government, we don’t know but when we read about the chilling account of the predicament of his family, it starks us a sharp reminder of what absolute power can do to an administration. [If any of you get a chance, see the movie "The Last King of Scotland" to truly understand how absolute power can corrupt absolutely.] Similarly you have got to ask now where is people like Giasuddin Mamun. He has been captured by the government for about a month now but till this date he has not been produced to the court or have been given a chance to defend himself. If the truth is on their side, why do the government have to resort to such untransparent and extra-judicial means? This not only violates his rights but more importantly it sets a dangerous precedence and sets up a chance that Mamun will be not be properly prosecuted for lack of following due process for the real and accurate charges of corruptions against him. Read on this bone chilling account from Dr. Jalal Alamgir regarding his father that came to us yesterday. I found it particularly troubling that if Mr. Mohiuddin Alamgir is truly innoncent, there is a dangerous chance that he will be a casualty of the war with no chance to defend himself in the court of law. Journos, who are reading this blog, I think it is about time we ask these serious questions. Again, please argue on the issue and no personal attacks please.

A personal account from Dr. Jalal Alamgir

Many of you have asked about Abba recently, so here is an update. It’s a bit long because I want to give all the details, so please bear with me. I’ll try to be level-headed, sticking to the facts as I know them. Consider it a view from the other side of what’s going on in Bangladesh.

So far they have filed one case against Abba. Treason and sedition. This is a familiar strategy: file treason charges to keep him detained until something else can be found.

This is the exact strategy that BNP pursued in 2002 to imprison and torture him. Once the court had found no basis for treason and sedition, BNP government eventually came up with a dozen different cases, most of them related to corruption. They kept coming up with new charges right before the expiry of each detention deadline.

In none of the cases resolved so far has he been found guilty of any wrongdoing. (And as everyone knows, BNP had left no stone unturned to search for evidence of corruption.)

On February 4, 2007, Joint Forces led by the military raided his house in Banani and detained him. He was sent to prison without any charges. He was able to make a quick call to me before being taken away. Fortunately, there has not been any physical abuse this time, and they spoke with him respectfully, from what I heard.

The house has been raided twice since, and a lot of documents have been confiscated. Nothing incriminating has been found so far: no palatial home here, no stolen relief materials, no expensive BMWs, no arms or ammunition, no stashes of dollars and dinars.

During the most recent raid, one of the officers remarked in frustration: “kichui to pelam na, jonotar moncho diyei dhorte hobe abar” (couldn’t find anything; guess we have to file Jonotar Moncho [treason and sedition] once again). This Plan B I think was already in place.

On February 18, the government served him a notice, in jail, to submit within 72 hours a statement of wealth including his entire life’s income and expenses, or risk the seizure of his assets. The notice is consistent with the ones served to other “high-profile” detainees.

You can imagine, figuring out forty years of income and expenses in 72 hours… if difficult under normal circumstances, impossible when one is in jail, and doesn’t have his documents. Well, his financial files were seized from the house during raids, and so they are inaccessible anyway.

So he had to compile this based on his best estimates, which I believe is exactly what the government wants. Basically the government has its own estimate of his wealth. They will check to see whether his statement matches it.

Inaccuracy, as the government has stated, will be an initial confirmation of corruption. If any information is omitted, then it will likely be considered deliberate, punishable with an additional 3 yrs in prison.

Abba prepared a hand-written statement in jail, to the best of his memory, and it was submitted to the Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday by his brother.

The statement had to be written during the day, because from sunset to sundown, he is kept in darkness in his cell. Power is shut off.

I have asked for a copy of the statement. Once I get it, I will try to put it up on a public site, so that everyone can review what he has allegedly “amassed.” (Some newspapers have reported some parts of it.)

Meanwhile, Joint Forces have grilled Amma, during a separate three-hour questioning session. They want her to submit a statement of wealth too. My guess is that they will compare that to what Abba provided, and see if there are discrepancies. The goal is to find discrepancies. They want her to even include details like the income of her parents, who have long passed away. They said, “hishabe ponchash takar golmal holeo dhorbo” (we will get you even if we find a discrepancy of Tk. 50 – less than $1). They made it clear to her what the punishment for “lying” or “hiding” information is: 3-5 years for her.

Amma was able to visit Abba in Kashimpur a couple of days ago. They could not talk freely, even about legal strategy, because there was always an officer from the Special Branch in the room.

During another night-time raid to the house, the Joint Forces pressured Abba’s driver Monir to become a Grand Witness (rajshakkhi) against him for whatever charges they bring. Monir used to be in the army. They asked him, “army’r lok hoye tui kibhabe erokom deshodrohir jonno kaj korish” (how can an army man like you work for a traitor like him)? They instructed him to come to Gulshan Police Station by noon the next day and sign an affidavit promising to testify against Abba for all future cases. Otherwise, they said, they’ll go after his family. Monir did not show up the next day, and has not been heard from ever since.

So, why Abba? Who’s behind this, and why, I don’t know for sure, and for now I’ll keep the theories to myself. But since it is a “high-profile” arrest, it cannot an afterthought or bureaucratic oversight. The Caretaker Government has approved this obviously. During one of the raids, one sympathetic junior officer had the chance to confess apologetically to Amma that they have been instructed to find something, anything at all no matter what; otherwise they themselves will risk stern action.

I don’t know about the accuracy or any inaccuracies in the statement Abba has prepared. In fact, I’m not worried about corruption. I’m not worried about the proof, or the moral high ground. That has already been established, because in 5 years of hunting BNP was unable to come up with anything concrete. I’m not worried about him withering away in jail. He has faced persecution pretty much under every government (except the brief hiatus by Awami League); he’s a fighter; he’ll fight and survive this as well.

All I want to ensure is due process, such that whatever the allegations, he gets a fair trial.

I understand, and absolutely applaud, the current drive against corruption. Most people caught are extremely corrupt, as the newspapers are detailing everyday. I would not even mind if Abba is punished, if he is found to be corrupt, but I do object strongly and unequivocally to the absence of due process here, because without it and without the protection of fundamental rights, trials, no matter how speedy or exciting, can never be fair.

Abba has little room to mount a credible defense. New tribunals are going to be constituted under emergency laws to “try” the accused. Fundamental rights are suspended. He does not even have the right to go to the High Court against property seizure, which is (er, was) a right guaranteed for all citizens by Article 44 of the Constitution. So, the intent of the government, plainly and deliberately, is to convict, rather than to secure justice, and that is my main worry.

Abba is politically controversial, no doubt. He is a firecracker with his views, no doubt.

General Ershad hated him because he was the first one to take serious concerted action against bank defaulters. As Managing Director of the Shilpa Bank (Industrial Bank; state-owned) in the eighties, he sued hundreds who took out loans from the government’s coffers and never repaid, including some of Ershad’s top ministers.

BNP hated him because he convinced civil servants that they are servants of the State, and therefore are constitutionally mandated to serve the people. After BNP staged one-sided national elections in 1995 and usurped power, he said that the government has lost legitimacy because it has become unrepresentative of the people, and by serving it, civil servants would fail to meet their constitutional obligations as trustees of the State (he argued the same against Ershad as well). This eventually paved the way for a caretaker system to emerge through a constitutional amendment in 1996.

Some in Awami League leadership also hated him because he doesn’t always go with the party line. His last contention with AL was about its deal with Khilafat Andalan (the fringe Islamist group), which he fully opposed.

So, his friends are few, which is a problem, and he is all of the above, vocal, proactive, controversial, which is also a problem—but a crook and a thief he is not. He respects the State way too much to steal from it.

I wanted to provide just the facts for you, but I guess I ended up including some of my thoughts as well. It’s been difficult for us to bring out some of the issues in this case, because most of the arrests are right on and very justified. It is very difficult for us to see Abba’s name flashed by most of the media as part of the group of “shirsho durnitibaj” (top corrupt) or “the godfathers.” Whatever the motive behind persecuting him, it’s a travesty.

I urge all of you to stay very vocal about the need to ensure due process and fair trials.

- Jalal