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Canadian lawyer Sloan not allowed to talk to press

Staff Correspondent
Visiting Canadian lawyer William Sloan could not hold the press conference he planned for yesterday after the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel had cancelled his hall room booking.
The international human rights lawyer who arrived in Dhaka on February 16 was confined to his hotel room and not allowed to talk to the journalists waiting outside.
Meantime, plainclothes detectives barred journalists and lawyers from entering the hotel. They did not let newsmen move beyond the driveway.
Contacted, a hotel official said all they knew was that the booking had been cancelled and nothing more.
William Sloan, who was earlier denied access to the Special Court hearing a graft case against detained Awami League (AL) President Sheikh Hasina, had booked Chitra Hall of the hotel for the press conference at 4:30pm.
But as the time neared, additional police and plainclothes intelligence personnel crowded the entrance and exit of the hotel.
Intelligence sources said the Canadian lawyer had pledged on his arrival not to speak to the media over any internal issue.
Prof Payam Akhavan, another Canadian lawyer, during a visit to the country recently as Hasina's international counsel had criticised the army and the caretaker government.
The authorities did not want that to repeat and so this time they did not allow Sloan to hold a press conference, sources toldThe Daily Star.
Barrister Shafique Ahmed, a senior counsel for the AL chief, said preventing a lawyer of Sloan's stature from holding a press conference would in fact blemish the country's image abroad. Everyone has the right to speak.
" He was not allowed to come out ofhis room with policemen posted outside,''he added.
Shafique Ahmed was talking to the newsmen on the hotel's entrance driveway. He said none from the government or the authorities concerned bothered to inform them of the developments while the hotel authorities claimed they had been forced to cancel the booking.
Sloan, also president of American Association of Jurists, Canadian chapter, called the press conference to share his views on the human rights situation here, said AL Office Secretary Abdul Mannan Khan.
The hotel authorities did not clarify their position despite repeated attempts by the journalists.
Later, an official named Faisal told reporters that they had nothing to do.
Tm not the one authorised to say anything in this regard. You better talk to our public relations manager. He will be back to work after three days," he addled.