Aminul Islam (1973 – 4 April 2012) was a Bangladeshi

trade unionist A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits (s ...

who was murdered in 2012 and gained international attention.

Biographical details

Islam was married and had two sons and one daughter.

Work

Islam, a former garment worker, was president of the

Ashulia Ashulia is a suburban area near Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. Nearby areas are Savar, Savar DOHS, and Tongi. The attractive view of Ashulia lake and vast paddy field A paddy field is a flooded field of arable land used for ...

and

Savar Savar ( bn, সাভার) is a city in central Bangladesh, located in Dhaka District in the division of Dhaka. It is the closest city from Dhaka. It is also a part of Greater Dhaka conurbation which forms the Dhaka megacity. About 296,851 ...

chapters of the Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Workers Federation and a leader of the Bangladesh Center for Workers' Solidarity, which has advocated for improved working conditions and higher wages. In 2010, the organization led protests to push for a larger increase in the minimum wage for garment workers in the Bangladesh textile industry. Islam, as well as other labor leaders, had been arrested in connection with these protests. During his arrest in 2010, he was physically tortured by officers of the National Security Intelligence. Islam had recently been working to organize workers in factories belonging to the Shanta Group, which produces clothing for multiple American companies including

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, and Ralph Lauren. He had also assisted ABC News in setting up interviews with survivors of a recent factory fire in Bangladesh.

Murder

The 6 April 2012 issue of the Bangali-language newspaper ''

Amar Desh ''Amar Desh'' ( bn, আমার দেশ) is a defunct daily newspaper in Bangladesh, published from Dhaka in the Bengali language since 2004. ''Amar Desh'' provides news about Bangladesh from local and regional perspectives and covers interna ...

'' carried photograph of a man whose identity was unknown at the time and whose dead body had been found by the Tangail police. From the photo in ''Amar Desh'', Islam's family was able to recognize him. Islam's body was found on 5 April 2012 next to a road near Ghatail, Bangladesh, sixty-one miles north of

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city i ...

. His body bore marks of torture. He had last been seen alive in

, a center of the garment industry near Dhaka. It is suspected that he was murdered because he was involved in seeking justice for the general worker of garment sector of Bangladesh. Islam's murder is still unsolved, but his case gained international attention from

AFL–CIO The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL–CIO) is the largest federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 12 million ac ...

and the

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References

2012 deaths Bangladeshi trade unionists Bangladeshi murder victims 1972 births People murdered in Bangladesh Bangladeshi torture victims Torture in Bangladesh {{Bangladesh-activist-stub