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Sajeeb Wazed

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Sajeeb Wazed
সজীব ওয়াজেদ
Born (1971-07-27) 27 July 1971 (age 53)
Dacca, East Pakistan
(present-day Bangladesh)
NationalityBangladeshi
Education
Spouse
Kristine Overmire
​
(m. 2002)​
Children1
Parents
Relatives
FamilySee Tungipara Sheikh family

Sajeeb Ahmed Wazed (Bengali: সজীব আহমেদ ওয়াজেদ; born 27 July 1971), also known as Sajeeb Wazed Joy (Bengali: সজীব ওয়াজেদ জয়), is a Bangladeshi businessman and politician.[1] He is a member of the Bangladesh Awami League and served as an advisor to former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on information and communication technology affairs.[2][3] Sajeeb is widely known for spreading misinformation, In December 2022, three UN Special Rapporteurs criticized him for allegedly spreading misinformation.[4]

Early life and education

Wazed was born in Dhaka during the Bangladesh Liberation War on 27 July 1971. His parents are Dr. M. A. Wazed Miah and Sheikh Hasina Wazed. His father was a nuclear scientist. In August 1975, his grandparents and uncles were assassinated during a military coup in Bangladesh; he and his mother, father and aunt survived as they were visiting West Germany.[5] The family was barred by the military regime from entering the country until 1981. After returning to Bangladesh in 1981, his mother assumed the presidency of the Awami League and spearheaded the campaign for the restoration of democracy, along with her arch-rival Khaleda Zia. Wazed attended boarding school in India, including St. Joseph's College in Nainital and Kodaikanal International School in Palani Hills, Tamil Nadu.[6] He studied computer science at the University of Bangalore; then transferred to The University of Texas at Arlington in the United States, where he graduated with a B.S. in computer engineering. Subsequently, Wazed attended Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University, where he completed his Master of Public Administration.[7]

Personal life

Wazed was settled in the United States for over two decades. He married Kristine Ann Overmire on 26 October 2002. They have a daughter named Sophia. Their house is located in Falls Church, Virginia.[8] Since 2009, Wazed has divided his time between Bangladesh and the United States.[9]

Given the violent history of brutal assassination of Sheikh Mujib family in 1975,[10] and later attempts to assassinate Sheikh Hasina, which was 19 times in total,[11] and very high security risk towards the immediate Mujib family members, in 2015 Sajeeb was given lifelong protection by the government of Bangladesh through the Special Security Force.[12][13] The government also announced free utility for life for him and his family.[14][15] On 29 August 2024, the interim government decided to cancel this law.[16] Then on September 9, 2024, an ordinance was issued repealing this law.[17][18]

Career

He is the President of the US-based firm Wazed Consulting Inc. Wazed is regarded as the mastermind of the Digital Bangladesh initiative and promoting the Vision 2021 manifesto of the Awami League. Wazed was listed by the World Economic Forum as one of its Young Global Leaders.[19] Wazed is also a lobbyist and columnist on behalf of the Bangladeshi government.

Wazed has pledged to transform Bangladesh's IT industry into the country's largest export sector, but critics say he has achieved little towards that end. Wazed has accused the Editor of The Daily Star, the country's largest circulated English daily, of sedition; and a pro-opposition journalist of attempted murder.[20][21][22] Wazed has also had conflicts with Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus[23] and refused to publicly denounce Islamic extremists for the murder of Bangladeshi atheists,[24] in order to avoid alienating the country's conservative clergy, despite professing himself as a secularist.[25]

Leadership

In 2007, a military-backed caretaker government headed by economist and civil servant Fakhruddin Ahmed grabbed power in the wake of the 2006-2008 political crisis, following the failure of the Iajuddin Ahmed-led caretaker government. The notorious 'Minus Two' formula was put in place, not only to get rid of the former prime minister Khaleda Zia, but also Sajeeb Wazed's mother, the then Leader of the Opposition Sheikh Hasina.[26]

After his mother's arrest, he worked to secure her release, following which she has led two consecutive governments having won the national elections in 2008 and 2014 respectively.[27]

His formal involvement in the party made its way on 25 February 2010 as he became a primary member of the Rangpur (the ancestral home district of his late father) district unit of Awami League.[28] In addition, he joined as a voluntary and unpaid advisor to the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina.[29]

Public life

Wazed first appeared on the Bangladeshi political scene in 2004, when he made a widely publicized visit to Bangladesh. On 25 February 2009, Wazed officially joined the Awami League as a primary member of the Rangpur district unit of the party. Rangpur is the ancestral home district of his father Wazed Miah and his potential parliamentary constituency.[30]

After the Awami League returned to power in 2009 with Sheikh Hasina as prime minister for a second time, he made his first public statements after the BDR Mutiny, praising his mother's handling of the crisis. "This is probably the biggest incident Bangladesh has had since 1975 and our government and the prime minister has handled this compassionately, pragmatically but decisively to bring the situation under control" he said in an interview to the BBC.[31]

Business

According to Fairfax County, Virginia public records, Wazed is the president of Wazed Consulting Inc.[8]

Awards

  • ICT for Development Award, (2016) [32]
  • Young Global Leader, (2007)[33]

Controversies

Corruption allegations

In April 2016, an exclusive write-up by David Bergman in the Indian website The Wire revealed that a "Suspicious Activity Report" (SAR) covering a transaction of US$300 million recorded in a memo of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was linked to Wazed. But the court documents did not provide any further information about the reference to ‘US$300 million’.[20]

Muhammad Yunus

In 2011, Wazed talked and criticised Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus for his leadership of Grameen Bank, claiming high levels of "fraud and impropriety" in the use of Norwegian government funds at the Nobel Peace Prize-winning organization.[34] He claims, The government of Norway raised this as a major concern and as a compromise US$30 million was returned. The remaining approximately US$70 million was never returned. All correspondence in this regard was from Yunus himself. A spokesman for the foreign ministry in Oslo said about this issue, it was agreed in 1998 that the bank should return money wrongly transferred from the Grameen Bank to Grameen Kalyan - another part of more than 30 companies headed by Muhammad Yunus that make up the Grameen group of companies.[35] The government of Norway had been thoroughly investigated and that it considered it to be closed.[36]

Comments on attacks on atheists

In 2015, Wazed defended the Awami League government's refusal to publicly condemn the murder of bloggers and publishers by Islamic extremists. He opined that the government was walking a fine line to avoid alienating the country's deeply conservative clergy.[37] His comments were described by Nick Cohen in The Guardian as "pathetic";[38] while Trisha Ahmed, the stepdaughter of slain Avijit Roy, responded that "Bangladesh is powerless; it's corrupt, there is no law and order, and I highly doubt that any justice will come to the murderers."[37]

Conflict with editors

In 2016, Wazed accused Mahfuz Anam, editor and publisher of The Daily Star, of treason and demanded his imprisonment for publishing reports in 2007 on the basis of intelligence sources, accusing his mother Sheikh Hasina of corruption. The BBC has reported that the Bangladeshi government has been seeking to curtail the finances of the influential newspaper.[39] Later on Mahfuz Anam has admitted to his 'biggest mistake' in journalism, saying it was wrong of him to run corruption stories against Sheikh Hasina during the 2007-8 military-controlled caretaker regime.[40]

Spreading misinformation

Three United Nations rapporteurs in a joint letter on December 22, 2022, accused Sajeeb Wazed of sharing misinformation against them while they pointed out gross human rights abuse in Bangladesh under the Sheikh Hasina regime. The letter, signed by Aua Baldé, the Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances; Clément Nyaletsossi Voule, the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; and Mary Lawlor Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, read:

"By bringing into question the authenticity of the submitted claims about enforced disappearances, the media has reportedly accused Odhikar of wrongly influencing the WGEID’s reports and action [...] the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s son Sajeeb Ahmed Wazed, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Information and Communication Technology, has used his verified Facebook account to challenge the credibility and integrity of the WGEID."[41]

Previously, in June 2022, the Agence France-Presse Fact Check team, found him sharing misinformation on President Ziaur Rahman by misquoting a former president's book.[42]

See also

References

  1. ^ Sengupta, Somini (5 June 2008). "Nearly 12,000 are arrested in roundup in Bangladesh". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2 August 2024.
  2. ^ "Joy reappointed as PM's ICT adviser". The Business Standard. 21 January 2024.
  3. ^ "Joy appointed as honorary ICT adviser to PM". Prothom Alo. 21 November 2014. Archived from the original on 23 December 2017. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
  4. ^ "Letter to Bangladesh (AL BGD 4/2022)". UN OHCHR. Archived from the original on 21 April 2024.
  5. ^ "August 1975 and Sheikh Hasina's days in Europe". bangladeshpost.net. 16 August 2022.
  6. ^ "Sajeeb Wazed Joy's 49th birthday today". July 2019.
  7. ^ "The time Delhi gave shelter to Sheikh Hasina". dna. 7 April 2017. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  8. ^ a b "The mystique of PM's son". bdnews24.com (Opinion). 19 March 2011.
  9. ^ "Sajeeb Wazed's viral photo shuts down rumors about his US status". Dhaka Tribune. 4 October 2023.
  10. ^ "Bangladesh Coup: A Day of Killings". The New York Times. 23 August 1975.
  11. ^ "A life haunted by assassins all along". The Business Standard. 27 September 2021. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  12. ^ Report, Star Online (25 May 2015). "Bangabandhu family to get more security, free utility, foreign treatment". The Daily Star.
  13. ^ "19 privileges for Bangabandhu family". 26 May 2015.
  14. ^ "Cabinet clears SSF Bill to increase security for Bangabandhu's family". Dhaka Tribune. 17 May 2021.
  15. ^ "Tighter security for Bangabandhu family". bdnews24.com. 26 May 2015. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  16. ^ "Draft to repeal security act for Bangabandhu's family members approved". The Daily Star. 29 August 2024. Archived from the original on 29 August 2024.
  17. ^ "বঙ্গবন্ধু পরিবারের বিশেষ নিরাপত্তা আইন বাতিল করে অধ্যাদেশ জারি". Daily Inqilab (in Bengali). 9 September 2024. Archived from the original on 9 September 2024.
  18. ^ "Law providing special security to Bangabandhu's family abolished". Dhaka Tribune. 9 September 2024.
  19. ^ "The Daily Star Web EditionVol. 5 Num 939". The Daily Star. Archived from the original on 18 March 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  20. ^ a b Bergman, David. "Exclusive: US Court Dismissed Claim of Plot to Injure Bangladesh PM Son". The Wire. Archived from the original on 24 April 2016. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
  21. ^ "Senior Bangladesh editor Shafik Rehman is arrested". BBC News.
  22. ^ "Joy wants Daily Star editor detained, tried for treason for false stories against Hasina". bdnews24.com.
  23. ^ "PM: US pressured Joy over Yunus issue". Dhaka Tribune. 18 February 2017.
  24. ^ Tharoor, Ishaan (1 December 2021). "These Bangladeshi bloggers were murdered by Islamist extremists. Here are some of their writings". Washington Post.
  25. ^ "Massive Yunus fraud: Sajeeb". bdnews24.com. 6 March 2011.
  26. ^ "Bangladesh: Ex-Premier's Trial Delayed". The New York Times. 18 January 2008.
  27. ^ "Sajeeb Wazed commends AL leaders and supporters, calls for unity in march for Smart Bangladesh". 24 June 2024.
  28. ^ The Daily Star
  29. ^ "Tech-based economy is progressing under Joy's leadership: Quader". 27 July 2024.
  30. ^ "Joy joins politics". The Daily Star. 26 February 2010.
  31. ^ "South Asia - Bangladesh army backs government". BBC News. 27 February 2009.
  32. ^ "Joy receives 'ICT for Development Award'". The Daily Star. 20 September 2016.
  33. ^ "Sajeeb in top 250 young global leaders' league". bdnews24.com. 20 September 2016.
  34. ^ "Joy's 'letter' tells it all". The Daily Star.
  35. ^ eBangladesh
  36. ^ "Grameen: Norway gives all-clear to Bangladesh bank". BBC News.
  37. ^ a b "Not believing in God is dangerous for bloggers in Bangladesh". BBC News.
  38. ^ Cohen, Nick. "Islamism prevails even as we suppress free speech". The Guardian.
  39. ^ "'Attempt to crush independent media' in Bangladesh". BBC News.
  40. ^ "Daily Star Editor Mahfuz Anam admits to publishing DGFI-fed baseless stories". bdnews24.com.
  41. ^ "Letter to Bangladesh (AL BGD 4/2022)". UN OHCHR.
  42. ^ "Posts share false quote from former Bangladesh president's autobiography about his successor". AFP Fact Check.
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