Amnesty Int'l serving political agenda to bring puppet govt: Joy

Prime Minister's ICT Advisor Sajeeb Wazed Joy has expressed his suspicion that Amnesty International (AI) is serving some political agenda to destabilise the country to bring a puppet government to power.

"I suspect Amnesty International is serving some political agenda ... they have become the arm of some governments who want to destabilise our country, with the aim of bringing a puppet government to power," Joy, also the son of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, said in a Facebook post on sunday night.

His comments came as he slammed the recent report of the London-based Amnesty International that claimed that media freedom was being restricted and journalists harassed in Bangladesh.

Joy said recently Amnesty International released a report where they claimed that "Media freedom was being restricted and journalists harassed in our country and they cited the examples of Shafiq Rahman and Mahfuz Anam."

He wrote: "Shafiq Rahman met with and provided money to bribe a former US FBI agent for information on me. This former agent and his two accomplices are now behind bars in the US."

"This information is available on the US Department of Justice's website. Even if we put aside the fact that one of his accomplices confessed to the US authorities that he planned to kidnap and kill me, Shafiq Rahman was involved in the bribery of an FBI agent," Joy said.

"If he lived in the US he too would be behind bars," reads Joy's Facebook post.

The PM's ICT adviser said: "Mahfuz Anam confessed on national television that he wrote false stories of corruption about my mother, our Prime Minister."

Joy said he (Mahfuz Anam) admitted to running a smear campaign against her (Sheikh Hasina) to help "an illegal military government take power in our country".

"Yet, our government did not file any charges against him. Members of our party filed civil lawsuits against him, which is the right of every citizen to seek justice for libel and slander," he wrote.

Joy added: "Every member of the Awami League who suffered during that military dictatorship should sue Mahfuz Anam."

He said Amnesty International is advocating on behalf of criminals. "They are saying that as citizens we do not even have the right to sue journalists in civil court to protect our good name. This is something we need to protest strongly," Joy said.

The PM's ICT advisor wrote Amnesty International did not make any statements against the military dictatorship of 2007-2008.

He said while politicians and businessmen were arrested and held without any charges, their property seized without any due process, all gross violations of human rights, Amnesty International remained silent.

"Yet today they are speaking to protect criminals ... one thing is clear since 1/11; Amnesty International is no longer a human rights organisation," Joy said.

Source: bss