FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 22, 2009

CONTACT: Richard L. Benkin, Ph.D.; +1-847-922-6426;

drrbenkin@comcast.net; http://www.InterfaithStrength.com

Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury Returns to US in October

Anti-Islamist Muslim will be in New York, Washington, Elsewhere

Dhaka, Bangladesh—Muslim journalist Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, who was arrested and tortured after exposing the rise of Islamists in Bangladesh, will visit the United States from October 27 through November 4. Mr. Choudhury will be in New York and Washington to meet with US lawmakers, advocacy and rights groups, and Bangladeshi journalists during his stay. He also will speak at Yale University on Thursday evening October 29 and Rutgers University on Sunday evening November 1.

This is Mr. Choudhury’s third trip to the United States. He is one of only a small number of Muslims living in Muslim-majority countries who is openly pro-US, pro-Israel, and anti-Islamist. In 2003, he was arrested by government agents as he was about to board a plane for a speech in Israel. The arrest was carried out in cooperation with Islamist forces because of his advocacy of relations with Israel and interfaith dialogue based on religious equality, and his articles exposing the rise of radical Islam in Bangladesh. He was tortured and held for seventeen months and only released after strong pressure by Dr, Richard Benkin, a human rights activist and Zionist from Chicago, and Congressman Mark Kirk, an Illinois Republican who currently is running for the United States Senate. In March, the US Congress passed a Kirk-introduced resolution 409-1 calling on Bangladesh to stop harassing Choudhury and drop the capital charges against him after extensive evidence confirmed them to be false and contrary to Bangladeshi law. Bangladeshi officials admit they are maintained only to appease Islamists.

Mr. Choudhury still faces these potentially capital charges and has been forced to attend court at least monthly since his 2005 release. Many of the court sessions are perfunctory and merely continue the government’s non-existent case; a few have had “witnesses” make defamatory charges that they could not support when challenged by the defense or the court. He is due back in court again a little more than a week after he returns to Bangladesh.

For further information or to interview Mr. Choudhury, Dr. Benkin or the two together, contact Richard Benkin at the telephone or email above.