STOP the Oppression against MTU and Former President Anowar!


Once again an absurd and shocking incident has occurred. On July 27 former MTU president Anowar Hussian left Korea smiling planning to return to his home in Bangladesh. However he was not even able to set foot outside Dhaka International Airport before he was arrested.
Even more surprising are the claims being made against former President Anowar. The Bangladeshi police have labeled him an anti-Korean criminal and are subjecting him to an investigation for anti-Korean activities, which they say are damaging to Bangladesh’s image.
President Anowar began his activism in Korea as a union member of The Equality Trade Union Migrants’ Branch in 2002. After serving as Seongsu Branch Leader for ETU and Representative of the Myeongdong Sit-in Struggle, he was elected as the Migrants’ Trade Union’s first president in 2005. Can this seriously be called anti-Korean activities?  
It is not possible to call labor union activities, which are protected by the Korean Constitution, anti-Korean simply because they involve. In addition, the Myeongdong Sit-in struggle was carried out by victims of discrimination in order to protect their right to life. It was not carried out in order to harm the Korean government or with any sort of anti-Korean objective.
Former President Anowar has not carried out anti-Korean activities. Rather, he has been a victim of the Korean government. At 1:00am on May 14 2005, directly after he was elected president of MTU, Anowar was surrounded by dozens of officers at the entrance to Dtuksom Subway Station, harassed, hit and arrested in a grave violation of human rights. Despite the fact that this was obviously a targeted attack, the government claimed it was simply a regular immigration crackdown and proceeded to imprison Anowar. Anowar was then forced to live confined in a detention center without anyone with whom he could communicate for one year at the end of which he came to suffered from severe depression. As a result he was finally temporarily released to receive treatment on April 24 2006.
Anowar also experienced severe repression at the hands of the Korean government during the period his residence permit was extended. Beginning from the moment he was released the government stepped in to stop his activities in MTU moving to refuse extension of his residence several times.
Can MTU activities really be thought of as anti-Korean? Or serious criminal activities? No. The Constitution guarantees the right to such activities to all workers not discriminating between Koreans and non-Koreans. Specifically a High Court ruling of February 1 stated that the labor rights of undocumented migrant workers must also be guaranteed. Given this decision it is impossible to understand the governments refusal to acknowledge the legitimacy of MTU’s work.
The situation that Anowar is currently facing is clearly the fault of the South Korean government. We are sure that the Bangladesh government would not make this claim about anti-Korean activities simply for its own pleasure. We can only but guess that the South Korean government has intervened. This is because the government has referred to Anowar’s ‘anti-Korean activities’ in past media reports and interviews.
However, right now the Korean government is stating that its only involvement in this issue was to check if Anowar had boarded the plane when he left from Korea. This refusal to admit their responsibility in causing the current situation is an intolerable act. The government must take responsibility for causing an innocent man to be treated as if he were a felon.
In addition the Bangladesh government must immediately stop labeling just and proper union work ‘anti-Korean activities’, stop the investigation against Anowar and assure that it can live a safe and secure life. We, MTU, will continue to make every possible effort to ensure Anowar’s situation is addressed and continue to demand of the Korean and Bangladesh governments that they take responsibility and correct the problem at hand.

2007 August 2
Seoul-Gyeonggi-Incheon Migrants’ Trade Union