Terror broadcast network Al Jazeera has started broadcasting a so-called investigative report titled ‘All The Prime Minister’s Men’, which the Bangladesh government has termed as a “false, defamatory and politically motivated smear campaign”. Bangladesh Foreign Ministry issued a statement this morning stating: “The Government of Bangladesh has learned of a false and defamatory report titled ‘All the Prime Minister’s Men’ by Al Jazeera news channel”.
It said the report is nothing more than a misleading series of innuendos and insinuations in what is apparently a politically motivated “smear campaign” by notorious individuals associated with the Jamaat-i-Islami extremist group, which has been opposing the progressive and secular principles of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh since its birth as an independent nation in 1971.
The statement said the fact that the report’s historical account fails to even mention the horrific genocide in 1971 in which Jamaat perpetrators killed millions of Bengali civilians and raped more than two hundred thousand Bengali women, is a reflection of the political bias in Al Jazeera’s coverage and that of its principal commentator, David Bergman, convicted by International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh for challenging the official death toll of 1971 Liberation War.
It is noted that the main “source” of Al Jazeera’s allegations is an alleged international criminal claimed to be a “psychopath” by Al Jazeera itself, the statement said.
“There is not a shred of evidence linking the Prime Minister and other state institutions of Bangladesh to this particular individual, and it is highly irresponsible for an international news channel to draw conclusions on the basis of the words of a mentally unstable person,” it said.
The statement said it is also not surprising that the report aligns with the string of anti-Bangladesh propaganda habitually orchestrated by a few convicted absconding criminals and discredited individuals patronized by Jamaat-i-Islami, which on certain occasions has conspired with international extremist groups and news media, especially the Al Jazeera.
The foreign ministry said Bangladesh government rejects this desperate “smear campaign” instigated by extremists and their allies, working from London and elsewhere, and regrets that Al Jazeera has allowed itself to become an “instrument for their malicious political designs” aimed at destabilizing the secular democratic government of Bangladesh with a proven track record of extraordinary socio-economic development and progress.
Dubious background of Al Jazeera
On July 14, 2020, internationally acclaimed anti-jihadist newspaper Blitz published a report titled ‘Al Jazeera’s dubious role in promoting radical Islam and terrorism’, where the newspaper said:
An explosive new report released last Tuesday by former U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., provides compelling evidence that the Al Jazeera television network has been operating for years as an agent of the Qatari government. This is a clear violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), which requires agents of foreign governments to acknowledge their connections to those governments publicly. Ros-Lehtinen, former chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is now a lobbyist with the firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP.
The government of the United Arab Emirates commissioned Ros-Lehtinen’s investigation of Al Jazeera.
The UAE and Qatar are regional rivals on the Arabian Peninsula. The veracity of Al Jazeera’s status as a Qatari asset, however, is corroborated by Al Jazeera’s own unmistakable record of promoting Hamas and other terrorist entities, as well as the Muslim Brotherhood, anti-Semitism, and Islamic extremism. Al Jazeera has continued this promotion even within the past year.
Many have noticed. As long ago as December 2009, a State Department cable stated that Qatar was using Al-Jazeera as “an informal tool … of foreign policy.” Nothing has changed in the intervening years. Middle East Online (MEO) reported in January that Al Jazeera had begun “advocating for policies aligned to Gulf emirate, costing it audiences and credibility, especially on the Arabic channel.” Even Facebook “notified Al Jazeera late last year it would be tagged as ‘state-controlled,’” the MEO report said.
MEO noted that the network “has drawn the ire of regional rulers from Rabat to Riyadh for allegedly fomenting unrest and backing Islamists during the Arab Spring revolution that has gripped the Arab world.”
In June 2019, a group of Republican lawmakers asked the Justice Department whether Al Jazeera should have to register as a foreign agent of Qatar.
The Ros-Lehtinen report notes that “Qatar uses Al Jazeera strategically to advance its foreign policy objectives,” including to support Iran and promote Hamas. What’s more, “the highest levels of Qatar’s leadership have openly supported leaders of terrorist and extremist groups.”
Al Jazeera supports not just Hamas, but the entire Palestinian terrorist enterprise and efforts to delegimitize and destroy Israel. Al Jazeera’s longtime cartoonist Ummaya Joha has used her cartoons to glorify Hamas, celebrate terrorism and promote anti-Jewish blood libels. She has also spread anti-Semitic imagery and incitement. Joha is reportedly Hamas-affiliated and her first and second husbands were both Hamas terrorists.
Last December, Al Jazeera aired a speech by former Hamas Political Bureau chief Khaled Mashal. In it, Mashal declared that Palestinian women are “martyrdom-seekers, they help prepare martyrdom-seekers, and they play their role in the resistance.” All Palestinian political entities bestow the title of “martyr” upon those killed while trying to murder Israelis, including civilians.
Al Jazeera outlawed in many countries in the world
Blitz report dated March 31, 2019 said:
In August 2018, Indian Home Ministry took decision to stop the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera channel from broadcasting in India, after a documentary covering the subject of militancy in Kashmir was broadcasted. The decision came after the Central government’s efforts and the comments of its officials in the documentary went missing in the edited version, submitted to the Home Ministry for broadcasting clearance.
The channel had dedicatedly assured a 10-minute space in the documentary where it focused on the Government of India’s efforts related to the militancy in Kashmir, along with the official quotes. However, that cut couldn’t make it to the “edited” version that was submitted for the clearance.
Moreover, the security clearance of the channel was withdrawn on 29 May last year, which was valid from 3 December 2010.
This is not the first time that Al-Jazeera English has received flak from the Government of India. Earlier, in 2015, the Qatar-based channel was banned for five days. The Channel had shown, what the government said was “an incorrect map of Jammu and Kashmir” with respect to India.
For the entire five days, the channel displayed a blank screen with a message, which read: “As instructed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, this channel will not be available from 00.01 hours on April 22 till 00.01 hours on April 27, 2015”.
The report further said:
Due to its dangerous policy of patronizing terrorism and militancy, AL Jazeera is known as the terrorist network.
The first ban on the channel came in 2004 by the Algerian government. In the same year, Al-Jazeera had been banned by the Iraqi government, with an accusation of inciting hatred in the country through its reporting.
The third ban came in 2011, when the Egyptian government ordered the channel to close its offices in the country. Six journalists were also put behind the bars.
Two years later, in 2013, the Iraqi government, once again, put a ban on the channel with an accusation of promoting a sectarian agenda.
Again, in the same year, the Channel continued denouncing the Egyptian government, leading to a ban in broadcasting outside the country’s Capital, Cairo. The channel was criticized for being sympathetic to the jihadist outfits.
In 2017, Israel had decided to close-down the office of Al Jazeera as the channel was not only giving coverage to mega-terror outfit Hamas but also was actively working as the liaison vessel for Hamas to contact with several Muslim nations including Qatar to generate fund.
Saudi Arabia has been leading an effort to isolate Qatar, accusing the energy-rich Gulf state, and the Qatari-backed channel, of supporting violent Islamic groups across the Middle East. Jordan and Saudi Arabia have closed Al-Jazeera’s local offices, while the channel and its affiliate sites have been blocked in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain.
Al Jazeera provided platform to Osama Bin Laden
A report in Blitz dated March 31, 2019 said:
In 2017, United Arab Emirate’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs sent a letter to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on Qatar’s Al Jazeera’s persistent promotion of extremist ideologies.
“While the protection of the right of freedom of expression is of fundamental importance, this protection is not absolute, and restrictions on the right are permitted under the international law to protect national security and public order,” said Dr. Anwar Mohammad Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in a letter he sent on 9th July 2017 to Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussain, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, in response to a statement made by the High Commissioner’s spokesperson on 30 June 2017.
The Minister’s letter also referred to a statement made on 28 June 2017 by the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, David Kaye, on “the reported demand by a number of governments that Qatar close the Al Jazeera media network”.
“Freedom of expression cannot be used to justify and shield the promotion of extremist narratives,” the letter notes.
The minister on this score recalls UN Security Council Resolution 1624 (2005), a historic resolution that focused on messages that often precede acts of terrorism and calls on States to prohibit and prevent incitement to commit terrorist acts.
The letter further highlights how Al Jazeera has promoted anti-Semitic violence by broadcasting sermons by the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Yousuf Al Qaradawi, in which he praised Hitler, described the Holocaust as “divine punishment”, and called on Allah to “take this oppressive, Jewish, Zionist band of people and kill them, down to the very last one”.
Also included in the letter are numerous examples of ongoing editorial support for terrorist groups and on-air promotion of sectarianism by Al Jazeera journalists.
The letter mentions that, over the years, Qatari-owned and controlled Al Jazeera Arabic has provided a platform to Osama Bin Laden (Al Qaeda), Abu Mohammad Al Jolani (Al Nusra), Khalid Mashal (Hamas), Mohammad Deif (Hamas), Anwar Al Awlaki (Al Qaeda), Hassan Nasrallah (Hizbullah), Ramadan Shallah (Palestinian Islamic Jihad), and Abdul Hakim Belhadj (Libyan Islamic Fighting Group), among others.
The letter also explains that these interviews gave opportunities for terrorist groups to threaten, recruit and incite, without challenge or restraint.
Culprits behind Al Jazeera’s serialized propaganda against Bangladesh
For months, several fugitives and convicted criminals have been communicating with Al Jazeera with the plan of starting false propaganda against Bangladesh. Later, pro-Jamaat [Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh] writer Mahmudur Rahman succeeded in exerting influence on Al Jazeera through his patron Turkish dictator Recept Tayyip Erdogan. The Erdogan government has been extending various forms of patronization and funding to Mahmudur Rahman because of a special request from Jamaat-e-Islami’s Pakistan chapter.
On October 9, 2020, Blitz report said:
Jamaat-e-Islami inclined self-exiled leader of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), with a record of ties with Islamist groups as well as jihadist outfits, is all set of launching a Bangla newspaper from Britain with the financial support of Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistani spy agency Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party.
According to credible sources in Britain, BNP leader Mahmudur Rahman, who currently is in Turkey with permanent residency is making necessary preparations for launching a daily newspaper in Bangla named ‘Amar Desh’ (my country), with both print and online edition. A former additional attorney general of Britain is working on the matter of letting Mahmudur get the permission for this newspaper. In the United Kingdom, an influential leader of Jamaat-e-Islami is coordinating the project while a Bangladeshi journalist named Waliullah Nooman, who went to Britain a few years ago is organizing things on behalf of Mahmudur Rahman.
It is also learned that an Ekushey-award-winning poet and journalist in Bangladesh, who had earlier held a top position in the cultural front of BNP is organizing reporters, writers, and columnists for Amar Desh.
It may be mentioned here that, Mahmudur Rahman is also patronized by Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mir Quashem Ali’s family. Ali, a war criminal was handed the death penalty by the International Crime Tribunal in Bangladesh and his death sentence was executed several years ago.
Another culprit actively involved in smear propaganda against Bangladesh is a convicted fugitive named Shahid Uddin Khan, who is living in Britain since 2018 on self-exile. Sitting in the UK, Khan has been regularly issuing video statement giving provocations of civil war and riot in Bangladesh. It may be mentioned here that, Shahid Uddin Khan is a terror-funder, money-launderer, a dealer of illegal weapons and counterfeit currency, with a decade-old criminal past.
Sajjad Hossain, the coordinator of anti-Bangladesh propaganda
Sitting in Houston, Texas, a long-time agent of Pakistani spy agency Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) has been giving instigation and funding to the ongoing anarchism and arsonist terrorism in the United States. Law enforcement and intelligence agencies are in the total dark about such notorious activities of this individual.
A few decades ago, a man named Sajjad Hossain was recruited by Pakistani ISI, who had regular connections with a number of militancy outfits including Hizb Ut Tahrir and Jamaatul Mujahidin Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, although he never had any visible source of income, Sajjad was living a posh life in Dhaka’s Dhanmondi area. His son, Asif Hossain was a student of North South University, where he was affiliated with Hizb Ut Tahrir, a banned militancy outfit. Sajjad never hesitated in boasting of having connections with a Pakistani espionage agency.
For the past few years, he has been living in Houston, Texas with a monthly stipend from ISI.
According to information, Sajad, along with his son Asif and wife Nahid Parveen Neeru are engaged in jihadist activities and have been recruiting and motivating jihadists with the notorious agenda of staging jihadist attacks in the US.
Indian newspaper on Sajjad Hossain
Indian newspaper The Eastern Herald on January 15, 2019 published an exclusive report exposing the activities of Sajjad Hussain. The newspaper said, “In Bangladesh, Sajjad Hossain was living a posh life although he does not have any valid source of earnings. His son, Asif Hossain was a student of North South University, where he also was affiliated with a militancy outfit named Hizb-Ut-Tahrir. Sajjad Hossain never hesitated in telling few of his friends in Dhaka of his connections with Pakistani espionage agency Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI).”
It further said, “Although he resides in Houston, Texas and still is living a posh life, this ISI handler does not have any valid source of earnings. His wife, Nahid Parveen Neeru works as a deep-covered operative of ISI under her husband’s command. It is learnt from credible sources, Nahid Parveen Neeru connects with various targets in the United States, mostly Christians, Jews and Hindus under the disguise of a sex worker and extracts information as per instruction of ISI. To the locals, this couple is seen as dubious, while many even believe Sajjad’s main source of income is from his wife profession as a sex worker.”
Sajjad Hossain’s notorious activities
Since March 2020, Sajjad Hossain has been regularly communicating with a number of individuals in Bangladesh with the ulterior motive of giving instigations against the government as well gathering “scoop” for Shahid Uddin Khan, which would later passed-on to Al Jazeera.
Sajjad, who falsely claims to be a counterterrorism expert had connections with Brig Gen ATM Amin and few more military officers in Bangladesh.
