Amnesty aiming to bring puppet govt to power: Joy

Sajeeb Wazed Joy
Sajeeb Wazed Joy

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy has alleged that Amnesty International has become the arm of some governments that want to destabilise Bangladesh, aiming to bring a ‘puppet’ government to power.

“Amnesty International is no longer a human rights organisation,” he said in his Facebook status, reports Qatar’s English-language daily Gulf Times.

“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. One thing is clear since 1/11; Amnesty International is no longer a human rights organisation,” Joy added.

Joy, who is also the PM’s information communication technology adviser, slammed a recent report by Amnesty International that claimed that media freedom is being restricted and journalists harassed in Bangladesh, citing the examples of Shafiq Rehman and Mahfuz Anam.

He recalled that Rehman met with and provided money to bribe a former FBI agent for information about him for which the agent and his two accomplices are now behind bars in the US, Gulf Times adds.

As Rehman was involved in the bribery of an FBI agent, he too would have been behind bars had he lived in the US, Joy said.

Referring to The Daily Star editor Mahfuz Anam’s ‘confession’ on television that he wrote ‘false’ stories of corruption about prime minister Hasina, Joy said the Bangladesh government did not file any charges against him despite his smear campaign.

“Members of our party filed civil lawsuits against him, which is the right of every citizen to seek justice for libel and slander,” he said, adding that every member of the Awami League who suffered during that military dictatorship should sue Mahfuz Anam.

“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 name. This is something we need to protest strongly.”

Joy also criticised Amnesty International for not making any statements against the military dictatorship of 2007-2008 when 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.

The Awami League has already rejected the Amnesty report, terming it “biased” and “work of a lobbyist based in the UK and paid by the BNP and

Jamaat-e-Islami”.