Illegally Detained Investigator Released: Investigation of Pirates Apparel in Bangladesh Continues
February 4, 2008
For immediate release
Contact: Kenneth
Miller, Pittsburgh Anti Sweatshop Community Alliance, 412-241-1339
Sports and Exhibition Authority TODAY
1:30 at the New David L Lawrence Convention Center
– 3rd floor
Companies like New Era, American Needle and Nike produceTake action now!Call on Bangladeshi authorities to stop repression of labor rights advocates and trade unions. |
Workers Rights Consortium investigator Mehedi Hasan was illegally detained by the Bangladesh Intelligence Services on February 1. We are pleased to report that he was released on Sunday afternoon, Dhaka time. We also understand that the pending charges against him have been dropped. We hope to know more soon about the government’s official position on the case and their intentions going forward. We have also been very concerned about how Mehedi was being treated in custody; we are awaiting information on this question.
His arrest and his release, won with an out-poring of international support, demonstrate the need for a Civil Rights Bridge from PNC Park the floor of the global sweatshop. The Pirates were informed of his detention on February 1 and it is unclear whether or not they took any appropriate action on his behalf.
There are other labor rights advocates and worker leaders in Bangladesh who have been arrested and/or are facing unfair charges similar to those to which Mehedi was to be subjected. Notably, members of the Bangladesh Center for Workers Solidarity which whose representatives spoke at Freedom Corner on October 16, 2004 and the National Garment Workers Federation of Bangladesh who are trying to implement an agreement that includes payroll certification are in ongoing need of protection. There is an ongoing problem of the government’s broader effort to repress labor rights advocacy and the exercise of associational rights by Bangladeshi workers. It is our hope that the energy mobilized on Mehedi’s behalf, which has been so effective in securing his release, can be maintained and directed toward the broader goal of protecting labor rights advocates and worker representatives throughout factories sewing our Pirates apparel. We look forward to working with the Pirates towards this goal.
Members of the Pittsburgh Anti Sweatshop Community Alliance expect that the Sports and Exhibition Authority to be fully engaged with the Pirates until such time that the team demonstrates on ongoing effort to represent Pittsburgh’s high standards for workers rights in all factories sewing Pirates apparel.
