Contact the Congress

Bangladesh is on the brink of civil war. Muslims are being targeted by the government and the government-led War Crimes Tribunal. International pressure needs to be put on the Bangladesh government to: 1) change the Tribunal and ensure that it is transparent and that fair trials are administered and 2) to take the necessary measures to reduce the violence in the country. 

We must act now to get the U.S. government to place Bangladesh on its agenda. 

HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN DO

  1. Write to your local Congressman, highlight the human rights concerns in Bangladesh. 
  2. Request that these issues be brought for review the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. 
  3. Request that Congress require the United States to exert the necessary pressure on the Bangladesh government to: increase the due process standards and transparency of the Tribunal and take the necessary peaceful actions to quell the violence in the country. 
  4. Write directly to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, requesting that it requires the United States to exercise the necessary diplomatic pressure om the Bangladesh government. 
  5. Highlight the fact that the example being set by the government and the Tribunal can set a very bad precedent in Bangladesh and throughout the region.
HOW TO FIND YOUR CONGRESSMAN 
Click here to find your local Congress contact. 

GUIDELINES ON APPROACHING MEMBERS OF CONGRESS
  1. Be sure to use "The Honorable" or "Representative" before the name of your Congress member. That is the proper way to address a member of Congress. 
  2. If you are part of an organization, it is better to send a letter on behalf of the organization, rather than as an individual. Be sure to send the letter on official letterhead. 
  3. If you are writing as an individual, letters written with pen and paper are given more attention than anything sent via email or that seems like a form letter. 
  4. Tell the Congressional representative that you live in his or her district. 
  5. Check what committees your Congressman is on. If he or she is a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, bring that up in your letter. Otherwise, ask him or her to approach a fellow Congressman on the Foreign Relations Committee about this issue. 
WHAT TO SAY
  1. More than 250,000 cases have been booked against Islamic scholars and activists while 30,000 of them are already in detention. 
  2. Maulana Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, Bangladesh's most renowned Quranic scholar, has been sentenced to death by an illegitimate and corrupt Tribunal. 
  3. The judges who delivered the verdict had not heard all the evidence and witness testimonies. It is apparent that the verdict was pre-ordained. 
  4. More than 70 people have been killed during riots after the sentence was announced on Feb. 28, 2013. The government has not acted to quell the violence. 
  5. While the local media is extremely polarized on reporting the incidents in Bangladesh, the international media has not fully explored or understood the underlying issues that are causing the violence in Bangladesh.