WASHINGTON • A Missouri-native lobbyist known for his political savvy is working to free a Bangladeshi newspaper owner who could be executed by the government he criticizes.
Gregg Hartley is leading a team seeking the release of Mir Qasem Ali by a government that is putting political opponents on trial in a war crimes tribunal.
Hartley’s task is persuading Congress, the U.S. government and other nations to come to the defense of Ali, who has been held in a Bangladeshi jail since June.
“Unless other governments raise enough stink, the consequences for him could be dire,” Hartley said.
Hartley, a native of Centralia, Mo., is vice chairman of Cassidy & Associates, a top Washington lobby firm. He was chief of staff for Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., when Blunt was a House member. He remains active in Missouri GOP politics and accompanied Missouri’s delegation to the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., in August.
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The plight of Ali exemplifies the perils of the news business in foreign lands. It also shows the reach of foreigners wealthy enough to hire lobbyists such as Hartley, whose involvement has made him part of one of the biggest stories in South Asia.
Ali, 63, is CEO of Diganta Media Corp, which owns a satellite television channel and publishes Daily Naya Diganta, the largest newspaper in Bangladesh claiming a print and online circulation of 3.2 million.
He also is a senior member of an opposition political party, Jamaat-e-Islami.
After years of political unrest, Bangladesh has been governed since 2008 by an alliance led by a political party intent on seeking justice for atrocities that occurred in the country’s turbulent past.
In 2010, the government began proceedings under the International Crimes Tribunals Act. Since then, at least 14 people have been indicted for war crimes dating to the war of independence from Pakistan in 1971. Nine, Ali among them, are in jail.
Prosecutors have alleged that he was involved 40 years ago in a center where torture took place. His defenders acknowledge that he was a member of a pro-Pakistan political organization while in his 20s but assert that he had no role in the excesses of the time.
In a phone interview from Bangladesh, Ali’s son, Mir Ahmad, asserted that the arrest stems from the family newspaper’s criticisms of the government.
Daily Naya Diganta, he said, has been the only paper “vocal about injustices by the ruling regime. My father made a conscious decision to expose the government, and that’s why he is in jail now.”
Mir Ahmad said that his father was kept in isolation for several weeks after his arrest and was made to sleep on the floor much of the time since. He is allowed periodic visits but is denied items such as books, paper and pens, the son said.
The overriding worry, Mir Ahmad said, is the government’s haste in the court proceedings.
“We are afraid that he will be subjected to summary execution,” he said.
EXPRESSIONS OF SUPPORT
Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., is among members of Congress raising questions about the case.
On the House floor last summer, Wilson said he was concerned that Ali’s “arrest and ongoing detention may represent a thinly veiled attempt by the ruling government of Bangladesh to silence its opponents and critics.”
Reporters Without Borders — a nonprofit group that presses for freedom of information — ranked Bangladesh 129th of 179 nations evaluated in its press freedom index published this year.
Several Bangladeshi journalists have been murdered in 2012, among them a married couple who worked in television slain by unknown attackers in February. A newspaper reporter was gunned down Oct. 23.
The war tribunal is getting attention from international human rights organizations for failure to allow tribunal defendants’ due process. The U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has criticized the Bangladeshi government.
Brad Adams, of Human Rights Watch, an international organization, has met with top officials in Bangladesh about the tribunal. He said in an interview that his advocacy group supports the process so long as it follows the law and conducts fair trials.
Adams said that he has told the government that if defendants are not allowed proper defense and the ability to present evidence, the process could backfire on the government.
“Unfortunately, right now, they’re going down that route,” Adams said. “We’ve all been collectively unable to persuade the Bangladeshi government to adopt international standards.”
The U.S. government has pressed Bangladesh to adopt modern legal standards in its dealing with Ali and the other defendants. Stephen Rapp, the U.S. ambassador at large for war crimes, has made several visits to Bangladesh to urge fair trials.
Adams praised Rapp for his efforts but said problems remain.
“They (government officials) are unpersuadable on some of the key issues for political, personal and emotional reasons. They think these people have been convicted by history and that they’re carrying out the process,” he said.
NO ‘KANGAROO COURT’
Hartley has helped build support for the rights of Ali in Congress, at the State Department and from human rights groups.
Hartley’s company has appealed directly to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Representation of foreign governments, citizens and political parties is common practice in Washington. Lobbyists are required to report these dealings to the Justice Department under the Foreign Agent Registration Act.
For instance, Hartley’s firm has represented clients recently in Russia, South Korea, Equatorial Guinea and Guinea Bissau, among others.
Less common is lobbying firms taking on human rights cases in other countries, even those cases that pay well. Lobbyist disclosure records show that Cassidy and Associates has received more than $500,000 since last year from Ali and his family.
Hartley, 59, the son of a Missouri car dealer, said the case involves a government “using its tools to persecute a political opponent.”
“And unfortunately, when people being persecuted don’t have advocates they need in their own country, they need to look long distance for help.”
Given the desire for retribution in Bangladesh, justice may be that the best thing that Ali can hope for, Hartley said.
“If he’s going to be accused of something, he needs to have a fair trial, not a kangaroo court,” he said.
Bill Lambrecht is Washington bureau chief for the Post-Dispatch and STLtoday.com. He covers politics, Congress and Missourians and Illinoisans in Washington.
