Save Salauddin Quader Chowdhury

Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury - SQC as he is popularly known - has been a member of the Bangladeshi parliament since 1979. On 16 December 2011 he was arrested and detained on suspicion of war crimes. The politician maintains his innocence for the alleged crimes, which took place when he was only 22 and living and working as a teller at Coutts bank in London.

Despite having been in custody for four months, no charges have yet been brought against the MP, who has suffered a heart attack and a stroke while in prison.

In a letter to the British Government in February 2011, SQC claimed that he had been tortured. In his letter, he said, "My abductors were engaged in clamping on metal clips and clamps on various parts of my body my toes, my knees, my genitals, my hernia incisions, my chest nipples and my armpits. A bearded doctor strapped a blood pressure measuring [device] on to my arm and started instructions to first insert needles under my toenails and switch on electric surges."

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Amnesty International has stated that it is "deeply concerned about the allegations, and considers the reported torture of Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, as of any other human being, wholly unacceptable...The government of Bangladesh is obligated under international human rights law, to protect all persons under its jurisdiction from torture and other ill-treatment at all times.

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Critics and opposition politicians within Bangladesh say the International Crimes Tribunal is being used by the Government to settle domestic political disputes and runs the risk of unleashing social chaos. Of the 250 cases filed with the ICT, the only people detained are Mr Chowdhury, a senior MP in the Bangladesh National Party (BNP) - the largest opposition party - another senior BNP MP, Md Abdul Alim, and five members of Jamaat, partners with the BNP in the opposition alliance.

Steven Rapp, US War Crimes Ambassador, legal bodies and human rights organisations around the world have protested that the process of the ICT does not comply with the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) as adopted and amended in June 2010 to which Bangladesh is one of the 114 nation signatories.

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SQC's family are deeply concerned that he is will die in prison, unable to clear his name, either because of the brutality of his captors, or because he is simply denied basic access to much required medical treatment.

Please help to spread the word and Save SQC