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RATIONALIST INTERNATIONAL Editor: Sanal Edamaruku Report from Calcutta
HIGHEST BENGALI LITERARY AWARD FOR TASLIMA NASREEN - Taslima Nasreen, famous Bengali author who unleashed an uncompromising fight against all religions and faced wrath of Muslim fundamentalists in Bangladesh, is now in Calcutta receiving this year's 'Ananda Puraskar', the highest award for literature in Bengali language. Her mother country Bangladesh and the west Bengal state of India (of which Calcutta is the capital) share the same language, Bengali. This is Taslima's third visit to India in recent times. The award is for her autobiographical novel "Amar Meyebela" (My girlhood days) wherein she describes her young years till the age of 16, explains how in the traditional Bengali Muslim society, as an open minded critically thinking girl she responded to the oppressing situations and narrates how she became an atheist. 'Ananda Puraskar' is a cash award of half a million Indian Rupees (approximately $ 12,500) alongwith a plaque and citation. This is the second time Taslima has won the award. this year she is the sole recipient. In a colourful ceremony at Calcutta's Rabindra Sadan on the evening of 25 April she received the Award in the presence of a selected audience amidst thundering applause. Litterateur Bimal Kaur was the chief guest of the function. Remembering the rally of the Muslim fundamentalists and arrest of nearly 140 of them during her last visit to Bombay, Taslima's arrival schedule and whereabouts in Calcutta were kept top secret except to few trusted friends, including Sanal Edamaruku, Secretary General of Indian Rationalist Association. Sanal met her at Calcutta. This time, there has been no protest demonstrations against Taslima, so far. She leaves for Paris tomorrow. IRAN: BAN ON A PRO-REFORM DAILY LIFTED; 13 OTHER LIBERAL PUBLICATIONS REMAIN CLOSED Though the Iranian authorities have ordered the closure of the pro-reform newspaper Sobh-e Emrouz on 24 April, the ban was countermanded by the chief of the Tehran Justice Department just before midnight the same day, allowing the newspaper to publish. The newspaper's editorial said the conservative establishment was intend on using force after its weak showing in February's parliament elections boosted the reforms. "The opponents of the reforms know that they have no standing with the public opinion, so they are trying to strengthen their own grounds through a public and open campaign" - the editorial said. Saeed Hajjarian, the publisher of the Sobh-e Emrouz newspaper was gravely wounded in an assassination bid last month. The waiving of the ban on the newspaper coincided with the start of the trial in Tehran's revolutionary court of Hajjarian's attackers. Leading reformers have alleged high level backing for the assassination attempt from within the conservative establishment and the security services. Though the ban on Sobh-e Emrouz newspaper is lifted, thirteen other liberal publications remain closed in Iran. The newspaper closures sparked public protest in the early hours on 25 April. Several thousand students rallied peacefully outside Tehran university's hostels. Students displayed back issues of Fath daily and its predecessor Khordad (both banned) and hung protest posters outside the campus. "The people's silence is not a sign of their consent", read one poster. GERMANY: CLERICAL COURT IN TEHRAN ISSUES ARREST WARRANT AGAINST IRANIAN REFORMIST FOR SPEECH IN BERLIN Hasan Yousefi-Ashkevari, Iranian reformist cleric, now travelling in Germany will be arrested and judicial action will be taken against him on his return to Iran. Iran's clerical court run by fundamentalists has issued an arrest warrant for his speech in a seminar in Berlin on the reform movement in Islam. Charges against Yousefi-Ashkevari include acting against state interests, propaganda against Islamic system, insulting the faith and acting contrary to the status of the clergy, said prosecutor Mohammad Ebrahim Nekounam.Yousefi-Ashkevari is a prominent reformist ally and his only "crime" is upholding legitimate freedom. The clerical court has also summoned other Iranian participants in the Berlin seminar for intorrogation. Yousefi-Ashkevari has not yet returned to Iran after taking part in the Berlin seminar. Rationalist International Bulletin is the online organ of RATIONALIST INTERNATIONAL and reaches a world-wide community of concerned individuals, journals and groups. If you wish to introduce your like-minded friends to the growing readership of Rationalist International Bulletin, please ask them to write to <Rationalist_International@yahoo.co.uk>. Recipients of this bulletin are authorised to reproduce the contents of the bulletin with the credit line: "Rationalist International Bulletin # 38 (27 April 2000).
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