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Bangladeshi Embassy Protest over Protom Alo Insults to Muhammad (saw), His wives and the Ka'abah |
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Saturday, 29 September 2007 |
Press Release
London, UK, 29th September 2007 – Hundreds of protestors gathered outside the Bangladeshi Embassy after recent insults made in the Protom Alo (mainstream national paper in Bangladesh) publications in Bangladesh. On Monday 17th September, Protom Alo published cartoons in their supplementary magazine insulting the Prophet Muhammad (saw) by adding his name to an animal. On Wednesday 19th September, Hizb ut-Tahrir Bangladesh led Hundreds, protesting outside the National Mosque calling for justice. The following day Protom Alo made a cheap apology. The same evening, yet again they published articles comparing the Holy Ka’abah with a brothel and insulted the wives of the Prophet Muhammad. Consequently, 20,000 gathered outside the National Mosque after the Friday Prayers and over 10,000 of them joined Hizb ut-Tahrir Bangladesh’s march towards the Protom Alo main office. Police launched a series of brutal attacks but the party and the followers stood their ground.
In solidarity, Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain held a peaceful standing
demonstration, attended by hundreds, on Saturday 29th September 2007
outside the Bangladeshi embassy to show support for the Muslims in
Bangladesh. Amongst the speakers Dr. Salim Aitchia, senior member of
the Executive Committee of Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain, spoke about what it
means to a Muslim when the dearest parts of their Aqeedah are insulted
and he also gave examples from the past how the Islamic State used to
deal with such matters.
Mujibul Islam, Bangla media representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain,
highlighted how the government has taken no responsibility in dealing
with this matter nor do they have a legal system which prevents this
from happening again in future. They do not regard insulting of Allah
and His messenger (saw) a criminal offence hence are not taking the
necessary actions in dealing with the perpetrators. Mujibul Islam said
that the current Bangladeshi government has shown that they are not
interested in looking after the interests of the people, just like they
are not in the countries economics, politics, social affairs, or their
values; rather they are more interested in serving the foreign powers
influencing the country. He said, ‘the only system that can protect our
Aqeedah, as well as the well-being of the country and its people, is
the Islamic Khilafah system.’
The event was concluded by Jamal Harwood, senior member of the
Executive Committee of Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain, who explained that these
attacks are part of the global propaganda attacks that are made on
Islam and Muslims under the guise of the ‘War on Terror’. He said that
after the Danish and Swedish cartoon insults, the Muslims will not
tolerate any further attacks on their Aqeedah, especially in Muslim
countries. He also stressed that the Muslims must work for the
re-establishment of the Islamic system, the Khilafah, so that they can
defend their honour and dignity as they did so in the past. He
concluded by announcing that delegates will return back to the
Bangladeshi embassy on Monday morning to hand in the petitions signed
by thousands of Muslims from all over London, with the following
demands: -
1. We demand the arrests of Mahfuz Anam (Publisher of Daily Protom
Alo and Weekly 2000), Motiur Rahman (Editor of Protom Alo), and Golam
Murtaza (Editor of Weekly 2000).
2. We demand the suspension of the licenses of the two publications immediately.
3. We demand the re-establishment of the Sharia’ and Khilafah that will protect our Aqeedah and Islamic Values.
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