Let me talk to my husband, pleads ex-Bangladeshi envoy’s wife

 

Rieta Rahman with her son Aayihim R Zaman during a visit to Kuala Lumpur more than two years ago.

PETALING JAYA: The wife of a former Bangladeshi envoy detained by Malaysian authorities for possible deportation is pleading with the government to allow telephone access to him, as the family is undergoing severe anxiety after being kept in the dark about his condition or whereabouts.

Mohamed Khairuzzaman, 65, Bangladesh’s high commissioner to Malaysia from 2007 to 2009, was picked up by the authorities from his residence in Ampang last week.

He is reportedly wanted in his home country for undisclosed reasons.

Khairuzzaman’s wife, Rieta Rahman, told FMT that a phone conversation with him would make the whole family feel better and hoped the Malaysian home minister would consider her request.

“I don’t mind the authorities wanting to monitor our conversation. As a wife, I have always been in touch with him about the medication he needs to take. He has hypertension and prostate issues,” an emotional Rieta said in a phone conversation.

She hoped Malaysia would allow her request on humanitarian grounds as not knowing his whereabouts or his condition could be traumatic for not only the immediate family members but also the relatives.

Rieta, 60, who is with one of her sons in the US, said her last phone conversation with her husband was an hour before he was picked up by the Malaysian authorities on Feb 9.

Home minister Hamzah Zainudin said the arrest of the former diplomat was carried out in accordance with legal procedures.

Last week, Rieta pleaded with the Malaysian authorities not to deport her husband to Dhaka, saying “it is not safe” for him there.

She told FMT her husband’s arrest was politically motivated.

“My husband is an honourable person, an A-grade ambassador and an innocent man with no criminal records,” she said.

“Bangladesh is not safe for people who are not with the current government. He had previously been detained without charge or trial for three years and nine months in 1996, with Amnesty International regarding him as a political prisoner and a prisoner of conscience when he was released in 2001 during a change of government.”

A spokesman for Khairuzzaman’s legal team said they filed a habeas corpus application with a certificate of urgency at the High Court on Friday.

A habeas corpus writ is legal action demanding that a prisoner be brought before a judge to determine if he or she is being held illegally. - FMT