Скачать или смотреть UK: OXFORD: TASLIMA NASRIN INTERVIEW

(16 Feb 1995) English/Nat

In an exclusive interview with APTV Taslima Nasrin, the feminist author who fled Bangladesh after outraging Muslim fundamentalists, said Thursday, that she was willing to face trial for blasphemy and even go to prison if her government would guarantee her safety.

Dr Nasrin, who has been charged with blasphemy, added that she thought such guarantees were unlikely.

She is calling on Western human rights campaigners to take up her case.

Taslima Nasrin needs round the clock security protection. This police officer will be with her throughout her visit to Oxford University.

Dr Nasrin is a woman with a price in her head. She now lives in exile from her home in Bangladesh because a group of Islamic fundamentalists has issued a 'fatwa' or death warrant against her, similar to the one against writer Salman Rushdie.

Nasrin is a writer and the fatwa follows publication of her book 'Shame' which tells of a Hindu family in Bangladesh who were attacked by a Muslim mob.

That book was banned by the government. Then fundamentalists said it offended the religious sentiments of Muslims and offered a bounty to anyone who would kill the author.

Then in 1994 Dr Nasrin was quoted as calling for a revision of Islamic law. That led to protest marches and public strikes, and ultimately a warrant for her arrest on blasphemy charges.

Now she's due to face trial in Dhaka. She lives in Stockholm, Sweden in exile.

The trial has been postponed twice. Nasrin says her lawyers are dealing with the case in her absence but she'll return if the government can guarantee she'll be safe in prison.

SOUNDBITE:
"If they decide that I have to appear in court, then I have to go back but with condition that the government should give me full security in Bangladesh."
SUPER CAPTION: Taslima Nasrin]

She feels the risks are great if she goes back.

SOUNDBITE:
"Then I don't know what will happen. If I go back to my country, if fundamentalists kill me, who will take responsibility? I think government should give that guarantee.
SUPER CAPTION: Taslima Nasrin

While she likes Europe, Nasrin claims it's still very dangerous.

SOUNDBITE:
"European countries give me security but I like to be a simple human being, I like to move like a simple human being, I want to walk alone in the street but it is not possible because any militant Muslim could kill me at any moment. But what can I do? I have to manage it, I have to accept security."
SUPER CAPTION: Taslima Nasrin

She is grateful to the Swedish government for offering her sanctuary.

SOUNDBITE:
"I feel safe in Europe, but in Muslim countries and in Bangladesh it's very risky for me to move alone." (Then reporter asks what she thinks about Sweden) "They accept me, they gave a warm reception to me and I am grateful to Swedish government because Swedish government took initiative to take me from Bangladesh"
SUPER CAPTION: Taslima Nasrin

Nasrin still has no idea when - if ever - she may be able to go home.

SOUNDBITE:
"When I will be able to go back to my country I do not know. It depends on the situation in Bangladesh, if the situation improves then I will be able to go back to my country."
(Then reporter asks how does she find life in exile?) "Yes it is difficult to stay in exile but I have no other alternative than to stay in exile. But I want to go back to my country, I want to lead a normal life in my country and I want to write what I believe in, but now it isn't possible."
SUPER CAPTION: Taslima Nasrin


SOUNDBITE:
SUPER CAPTION: Taslima Nasrin]



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