Case Against My Aunt and The Economist Article

This week the military regime finally issued an order demanding that my aunt surrender herself to the courts. Once again, I find this astounding. The facts behind all of this make a mockery of due process.

In the original charge sheet filed in this case my aunt's name was not mentioned anywhere. Of course, the fact remains that the charge sheet itself was filed by the businessman in question while he was in DGFI (Bangladeshi military intelligence) custody. Why didn't he file these charges in the last five years? After all, my mother has not been in power since 2001. My aunt certainly has never been involved in politics.

My aunt lives in a small, two bedroom apartment in London. She has lived there for 10 years. She was not even in Bangladesh at the time this alleged extortion incident occured. The police were sent to sieze her property in Dhaka, but found none. She doesn't have any as she has not lived there in all this time.

My entire family's accounts have been frozen. This regime has not shown one single unusual transaction in any of them. This regime has also investigated all our accounts and property outside of Bangladesh. If indeed my mother or aunt were involved in corruption, where did the money go? Did it just vanish? This is like saying that because I did not see you steal, that does not prove you did not. It's impossible to prove a negative. The fact is, there is no money to find because there was no corruption.

My aunt does not even own a car in London. She takes the bus, even in the snow in the winter. She has diabetes but lives on her own. She has no staff or even a maid to help her out. To treat her this way is an abomination.

In a further testament to the complete lack of due process, there has still been no trial against my mother or aunt. It is illegal to attempt to sieze someone's property without so much as a trial. People are innocent until proven guilty, not the other way around. But this regime clearly does not care about that.

On the other hand, some of the most corrupt ministers from the previous regime as well our our own party still remain free. I won't name names, but most of you know who they are. This fact alone proves this regime's intentions.

This is clearly an attempt to destroy the reputation of Bangabandhu's family. That is what is happening here. In case you don't believe me, read this article from The Economist. Pay attention to the last paragraph:

http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10113855

This is what is happening in Bangladesh today. DGFI is extorting businessmen to increase it's control over the media. This is shocking.

This is the media age and whoever controls the media controls public perception. It is no secret that the media in Bangladesh is currently censored. Now it appears this regime is attempting to go further, to take over the media directly. This way they can attempt to shape public opinion by whatever lies they propagate.

This is where our country is headed. We are a police state now, with no constitutional rights and no due process. We are about to become one where our military intelligence controls the media and decides who is going to be in politics and who is not. We have seen this twice before in our history. It does not bode well for our future.