On January 24 Mehedi Hasan, a field investigator for the Washington D.C.-based Worker Rights Consortium, was arrested by the Bangladesh security forces.

Mehedi Hasan

Since then, Mr. Hasan has been held in detention and authorities have refused to let his family visit him. Hasan's arrest takes place in a context of severe repression by the military-backed "caretaker" government. Since January 12, 2007 the government has banned political and trade union activities. Both Bangladeshi and foreign labor rights advocates have been put under surveillance, interrogated and detained.

Please contact your embassy in Bangladesh and call for Mr. Hasan's immediate release and an end to the repression of labor rights activism.

To find the address of your embassy:
www.embassiesabroad.com/embassies-in/Bangladesh

SAMPLE LETTER

Embassy in Bangladesh

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am contacting you to ask for your immediate intervention in the case of Mehedi Hasan, a field investigator employed by the U.S. labor rights organization Worker Rights Consortium. Since January 24, Mr. Hasan has been held in detention and authorities have refused to let his family visit him. I am deeply concerned about Mr. Hasan's safety.

The arrest appears to be part of a broader campaign of repression by the government against labor rights advocates in the wake of recent demonstrations by apparel workers in Dhaka. Both Bangladeshi and foreign labor rights advocates have been put under surveillance, interrogated and detained.

The Worker Rights Consortium is a Washington, D.C.-based organization affiliated with 178 U.S. universities and colleges. Mr. Hasan's job is simply to monitor compliance with labor rights codes of conduct in factories producing clothing for WRC-affiliated universities. His work is an ordinary component of corporate social responsibility and an important part of efforts to assure consumers that the goods they buy are made under decent and fair working conditions.

I strongly urge you to call on the Bangladeshi government to release Mr. Hasan immediately. I also ask you to insist that the government lift its ban on trade union activities and stop persecuting Bangladeshi and foreign labor rights advocates.

Sincerely,