Choudhury prints 25,000 copies of the Weekly Blitz; it sells for 5 taka, the equivalent of 7 U.S. cents. He boasted that his newspaper – he says it’s “the most influential in the Muslim world” – was the first in Bangladesh to write about Islamic nongovernmental organizations operating in the country under the patronage of al Qaeda.
“Not a single article of ours has ever been protested by the government,” he said. “This means we have total credibility.”
Despite Choudhury’s insistence that his detractors’ accusations are all false, it does not appear his legal troubles will disappear soon. He is still facing blasphemy and treason claims.
“The court continues to postpone my trial, so I have to go to court every month, then they give me a new date,” he said. “They don’t have any evidence, so they can’t continue the trial. But they won’t drop the charges either because the government fears that would annoy the Islamists and anti-Semites in this country.
(JTA)