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INTERNATIONAL ALLIANCE AGAINST FUNDAMENTALISM Telephone: 91-11-91539526
91-11-8539526
Fax: 91-11-2256042
E-mail: sakth-@giasdla.vsnl.net.in
ALLIANCE BULLETIN-2 23 November 1998 FLASH NEWS
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TASLIMA NASREEN APPEARS BEFORE COURT, GETS BAIL
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Taslima Nasreen appeared before the Dhaka High Court on 22 November 1998 (Sunday). Though the event was kept unannounced for the public and media, the judge had been expecting her. In the court, the Deputy Attorney General A M Farooq, appeared on behalf of the state and opposed the bail application. Judge Kazi Ebadul Huq granted Taslima anticipatory ad-interim bail after a half-hour hearing.She then drove away in a private car accompanied by relatives, to an undisclosed place. The bail granted to her does not require money to be put down. The judge did
not set a trial date.
A LETTER FROM SANAL EDAMARUKU Dear friends, We are glad about the tremendous response that we received for the first e-mail bullettin of the International Alliance Against Fundamentalism. Nearly 600 people all around the world have already enlisted in the mailing network of the Alliance. There have been many questions about the foundation and the aims of the Alliance. The Alliance was initiated by the Indian Rationalist Association, one of the most active and vibrant freethought organisations in the developing world. The Indian Rationalist Association hosted the First International Rationalist Conference in Delhi in December 1995. Apart from the delegates from different states of India, nearly 150 delegates from 28 countries also participated in this conference. During this conference, the International Alliance Against Fundamentalism was formally inaugurated by Mr Lorentz Stavrum, president of Human Etisk Forbund, Norway, in the presence of Mr Levi Fragell (presently president of International Humanist and Ethical Union), Mr Jim Herrick (Rationalist Press Association, UK), Ms Jane Wynnie Willson and Harry Stopes-Roe (British Humanist Association), and Prof Rob Tielman (then president of IHEU, Netherlands) etc. Taslima Nasreen, then living in Germany was scheduled to inaugurate the conference -she could not attend as her application for visa was denied by the government of India. Fundamentalism defined One of the first tasks of the Alliance, alongwith it's other campaigns for freedom of speech and against religious extremism, has been to define fundamentalism. The definition of fundamentalism, as adopted by the Alliance, is as follows: "Fundamentalism is religious, political, social, cultural, national, racial or ethnic intolerance expressed violently or by force which tries to separate and immunise itself from the process of dialogue and critical inquiry, denies freedom of expression and imposes traditions, norms, beliefs and ways of life against the free will of individuals, societies and polity." Responses Prof.Paul Kurtz, President of International Academy of Humanism wrote: "We too have sent messages to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh. I am including my own letter along with some letters from members of the Academy of Humanism. We would be happy to have you publish them." Copies of letters to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh that we received include: - Christian John, Editor, Diesseits, Berlin If you have not yet sent a letter to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, we call upon you to write a letter focussing the following demands: 1. Bangladesh government should protect Taslima Nasreen from fundamentalist threat on her life. 2. Radical leaders announcing rewards for killing Taslima and calling for her execution be brought to justice. 3. The cases against Taslima be dropped. 4. Taslima Nasreen should have the right to live in Bangladesh and express her honest views and to leave the country whenever she wants. The address of Bangladesh Prime Minister: Sheikh Hasina, Once you send a letter to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, please inform us and send us a copy for recod/publication. Sicerely Sanal Edamaruku TASLIMA DID NOT SEEK FINANCIAL HELP
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Some friends have asked us about rumours that Taslima had sought financial support from her well wishers in Europe and North America and about the already started fund-raising in some quarters. A well meaning friend in USA writes: Taslima clarifies her position Reacting to the rumours that Taslima sought financial help and authorised to collect money on her behalf, she wrote to Mr Sanal Edamaruku on 11 November 1998, from her hiding place: "Dear Sanal, I did not seek their financial help. (Names blanked out by us. Emphasis in bold by Taslima.)
ISRAEL WORKING ON ETHNO-BOMB Israel is working on an "ethno-bomb" that would harm Arabs but not Jews. The Israeli biological weapon, which will target victims on the basis of the ethnic origin, is being prepared at the biological institute at Nes Tzyiyona, the main research facility for Israel's clandestine arsenal of chemical and biological weapons, reports Sunday Times. Quoting Israeli military and western agencies, Sunday Times say that the plans are to exploit medical advances by identifying some genes carried by Arabs, then create a genetically modified bacterium or virus, that attack only those bearing the distinctive genes. The Israeli ethno-bomb experiment mirrors biological studies conducted by South African scientists during the apartheid era which have been revealed in testimony before the Truth Commission. A Jewish state conducting such research has provoked serious response in Israel itself because of parallels with the genetic experiments of Dr Joseph Mengele, the Nazi scientist in Auschwitz. "Morally, based on our history and our tradition and our experience, such a weapon is monstrous and should be denied", said Dedi Zucker, a member of Knesset, the Israeli parliament.
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