Saleem Samad

Saleem Samad, a Bangladeshi journalist who is now in exile in Canada, has been visiting different human rights institutions and government organizations in Washington and New York City. Saleem , 53 year old writer-journalist , was detained and tortured in 2002 for assisting in reporting the plight of the minority community in Bangladesh in post 2001 election scenario. Saleem says that he was arrested and tortured by security forces in Bangladesh for helping Channel-4 TV of Britain to get information on how Bangladesh is gradually turning into a fundamentalist nation from a secular democracy.Saleem Samad says that the main concerns expressed in his meetings with these institutions included a correct monitoring of the forth- coming election, the probable reforms of  election commission and the rise of Islamic militancy.