:: Ain o Salish Kendra [ASK]::------>>>

Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), a legal aid and human rights organization based in Dhaka, Bangladesh, has been actively engaged in advocacy against the violation of the rights of individuals including that of prisoners. We write to draw your attention to the case of 8 (eight) Bangladeshi citizens who are currently detained in Alipur Jail, Kolkata despite having completed their terms of sentences. They are languishing in Alipur Jail for about three months after serving out their two-month sentences for illegal entrance in Indian Sea zone. Our information is based on a news paper report in Bangladesh (Banglabazar Patrika, December 9, 2002)
I am sure you will agree that the continued detention of these Bangladeshi citizens is a clear and unacceptable breach of their fundamental human rights. Here we would like to mention that Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK) filed and moved a Criminal Miscellaneous Case (Cr. Mis. Case No. 2737/01) before the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh for the release of foreign prisoners who were detained in different jails in Bangladesh despite serving their sentences. The Court was pleased to pass judgment to release the foreign prisoners as soon as possible. We came to know that under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a team was formed including the members of the concerned Embassies to repatriate these foreign nationals. Nearly about 250 foreign prisoners out of a total 750 have already been repatriated with the assistance of the concerned Embassies. For your reference, the judgment of this case has been reported in the Dhaka Law Reports (Dr. Faustina Pereira vs. State, 53 DLR [2001] at page 414).

We came to know that on several occasions that the Bangladesh High Commission in India, being requested by the concerned relatives of the said detainees, furnished names and addresses of the eight prisoners to the West Bengal Ministry of Home Affairs and requested to take necessary steps for their release and repatriation to their native land. But the High Commission of Bangladesh received no response and that no arrangements have been made to ensure their release and repatriation. We would therefore request your Excellency to intervene urgently in this matter in order to ensure that the fundamental rights of those Bangladeshi citizens are not further violated and to make the necessary arrangements for their release and repatriation.

In this connection we would like to take the opportunity to thank you for your valuable comments on the need for penal reform measure, at recently concluded South Asian Regional Conference on Access to Justice and Penal Reform, held in Dhaka between 11-13 December.

We are sanguine that your kind effort and prompt initiative in this regard will ensure that the violation of the fundamental freedoms of these prisoners will come to an end soon and that they will be reunited with their families before long.

Thanking you for your kind cooperation.

Respectfully, Yours sincerely,

Sultana Kamal, Advocate Executive Director Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK) 26/3 Purana Paltan Line, Dhaka, 1000, Bangladesh.

APPEAL TO COMMUTE DEATH SENTENCE OF KOBRA RAHMANPOUR

January 30, 2003

His Excellency,

President Hojjatoleslam val Moslemin Sayed Mohammad Khatami,
The Presidency, Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection,
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran.

Re: APPEAL TO COMMUTE DEATH SENTENCE OF KOBRA RAHMANPOUR

Your Excellency,

We, Ain-o-Salish Kendra (ASK) are a legal aid and human rights organisation based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. We have received the distressing news of the execution of Zahra Bagh-Shirin and Farahnaz Youli, two women accused of killing a man, and the confirmation of the death sentence of Kobra Rahmanpour, in Gachsaran, Iran.
As a human rights organisation strongly opposed to the death penalty as an extreme form of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and a violation of the right to life, as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which Iran is a State Party, we write to strongly urge you to:

Commute the death sentence of Kobra Rahmanpour;
Guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of Kobra Rahmanpour;
Amend Iranian legislation as a matter of priority, in order to abolish the death penalty;
Amend Iranian laws which discriminate on the basis of sex, in particular, laws that
provide for harsher punishments for women than men for committing the same crime;
Ensure in all circumstances the full respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with national and international standards.
We seek your kind and urgent intervention to commute the death sentence of Kobra Rahmanpour.

Sincerely For on behalf of,
Sultana Kamal, Advocate Executive Director, Ain-o-Salish Kendra, 26/3 Purana Paltan Line, Dhaka, 1000, Bangladesh.
APPEAL TO TAKE IMMEDIATE MEASURES TO CONTROL OUTBREAKS OF DISEASES IN BAGHDAD, IRAQ.
April 21, 2003

His Excellency,
Mr. Jakob Kellenberger,
President,
International Committee of the Red Cross,
WHO Headquarters,
19, Avenue de la Paix,
CH 1202, Geneva,
Switzerland.

Re: APPEAL TO TAKE IMMEDIATE MEASURES TO CONTROL OUTBREAKS OF DISEASES IN BAGHDAD, IRAQ.

Your Excellency,

We, Ain-o-Salish Kendra (ASK), are a legal aid and human rights organisation based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. We have received the distressing news of the looting and damaging of the Central Infectious Diseases Laboratory in the heart of Baghdad, Iraq. As a result of this Incubators containing many dangerous viruses including hepatitis, polio, AIDS and many others have been stolen and others have been smashed and strewn all over the area.

As there is no public broadcasting service to warn the looters and others of the dangers, and no authorities to take action, the lab workers believe that this will cause major outbreak of various diseases. Some of the lab workers have been pleading with ICRC officials and with American military medics to rise up to their responsibilities, but they appear to have been stonewalled.

As a human rights organization we are extremely concerned about the health conditions of the Iraqi citizens residing near that laboratory.
We, therefore, seek your kind and urgent intervention to take immediate measures to control and contain the probable epidemic.

Sincerely
For on behalf of

Sulktana Kamal, Advocate
Executive Director,
Ain-o-Salish Kendra,
26/3 Purana Paltan Line,
Dhaka, 1000, Bangladesh.

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