.jpg)
The authorities of the USA and Canada have listed Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) as undesignated tier 3 terrorist organisation.
They also rejected asylum and permanent residency petitions of a number of BNP leaders and activists on the ground.
In the USA, one Khalilur Rahman introducing himself to be associated with BNP politics sought permanent residency for himself, wife and children. However, the court rejected the plea as BNP is terrorist organisation.
In the immigration court rulings in New York, California, Texas and New Jersey, the applications of political asylum seekers have been rejected as Homeland Security Authorities have listed the BNP as a ‘Tier III’ terrorist organisation .
Being affiliated to a terrorist organisation, BNP leaders and workers have lost their initial eligibility for political asylum. As a result, the petitioners in the identity of BNP have been imprisoned in different states.
It is reported that more than 80 Bangladeshis seeking asylum in the identity of BNP are detained in El Paso Detention Center in Texas alone.
Scrutinising the judgments of the court, it can be seen that the Homeland Security Authority presented 16 reasons for considering BNP as a terrorist outfit. The reason includes doing communal politics, making alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami, persecution of minorities, creation of radicalism and violence and overthrow of democratic government by force.
Tier 3 terrorist organisation is one which is not banned and whose constitution does not openly support terrorist activities or human right abuses but patronises terrorists and instigates violent programmes.
In 2015, the BNP hired a law firm, LexisNexis, to remove its name from the US Tier 3 terrorist list. But there was no positive response from Homeland Security.
Meanwhile, Canadian courts have designated the BNP as a terrorist organisation four times for inciting violence, using force and attempting to overthrow a democratic government through terrorism.
This time, BNP hired Edelman & Co. Law Office and Stewart Sharma Harsanyi Law Firm as their lawyers at the cost of millions of dollars.
Although the Canadian court's verdict did not call BNP a banned terrorist organisation, it said that BNP leaders and activists are involved in terrorist activities, creating violence and anarchy and attempting to overthrow the democratic government. Therefore, BNP has been considered as a tier three level or undesignated terrorist organissation. BNP's appointed lawyer himself wrote that there are terrorists in BNP.
It is noted that several universities in the United States, including the University of California and Seton Hall University, have declared BNP as a Tier Three terrorist organisation in the syllabus of Immigration Law, reports Daily Sun.
Source:
1. June 16, 2023
US Court Designates BNP As Undesignated Terror Group
https://www.easternherald.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/BNP-Terrorist-US-Court-2.pdf
https://www.easternherald.com/2023/06/16/shocking-revelation-us-court-designates-bnp-as-undesignated-terror-group/
2. The case of 2022
Rahman v. Homeland Security Case
https://casetext.com/case/rahman-v-us-dept-of-homeland-sec
3. University of California (Berkeley Law) syllabus
https://www.law.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/BNP_BIA-Case-2.pdf
4. Seton Hall University syllabus
https://casetext.com/case/rahman-v-us-dept-of-homeland-sec
5. Petition by BNP leader Jashim Uddin in New York in 2017
http://www2.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/171056pa.pdf
Bd-pratidin English/Golam Rosul
