Farid Uddin Chowdhury ( bn, ফরিদ উদ্দিন চৌধুরী; born 25 December 1947) is a teacher, politician and businessman. He was the former Member of Parliament for the Sylhet-5 constituency from 2001 to 2008, representing the

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami ( bn, বাংলাদেশ জামায়াতে ইসলামী, Bānglādēsh Jāmāyatē Islāmī, Bangladesh Islamic Assembly), previously known as Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, or Jamaat for short, was ...

party.

Early life and education

Chowdhury was born on 25 December 1947 into a

Bengali Muslim Bengali Muslims ( bn, বাঙালি মুসলমান; ) are adherents of Islam who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. Comprising about two-thirds of the global Bengali population, they are the sec ...

family in Talbari village,

Kanaighat Kanaighat ( bn, কানাইঘাট) is an upazila of Sylhet Division of Bangladesh. It is the second-largest upazila (sub-district) of Sylhet District after Gowainghat Upazila. It is named after the town of Kanaighat, which is also the only ...

, Sylhet District in

East Bengal ur, , common_name = East Bengal , status = Province of the Dominion of Pakistan , p1 = Bengal Presidency , flag_p1 = Flag of British Bengal.svg , s1 = East ...

. His father, Abdul Haq Chowdhury, was a Mawlana. Chowdhury completed his secondary education (dakhil) at the Sylhet Government Alia Madrasah in 1959. He remained in the

madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...

where he finished his ''alim'' course in 1963, ''fazil'' in 1965 and ''Kamil'' degree by 1967. He then moved on to study at the

Murari Chand College Murari Chand College ( bn, মুরারিচাঁদ কলেজ) (usually referred to as MC College) was the first college in the Sylhet Division. It was established in 1892, making it the seventh oldest college in Bangladesh. Since then i ...

, where he earned his

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

Bengali language Bengali ( ), generally known by its endonym Bangla (, ), is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Bengal region of South Asia. It is the official, national, and most widely spoken language of Bangladesh and the second most widely spoken o ...

in 1971.

Career

Chowdhury began his career as an imam at the Gohorpur Mosque in Balaganj. He later became the principal of the Shahjalal Jamia School in Mirabazar, Sylhet. He is also a noted businessman in Sylhet, serving as the vice chairman of Al Hamra International Shopping Centre and the chairman of An-Noor Properties Limited.

Politics

During his time at the Murari Chand College, Chowdhury became the president of the Islami Chatra Sangha, the student-wing of the

party, and was also a member of its Central Executive Council. Chowdhury stood up as a Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami candidate for the elections of

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

and 1996 but was unsuccessful. During the

2001 Bangladeshi general election General elections were held in Bangladesh on 1 October 2001. The 300 single-seat constituencies of the Jatiya Sangsad were contested by 1,935 candidates representing 54 parties and including 484 independents. The elections were the second to be ...

, he was elected to parliament for the Sylhet-5 constituency. Transferring to the Jatiya Party, Chowdhury lost his seat in the

2008 Bangladeshi general election General elections were held in Bangladesh on 29 December 2008. The two main parties in the election were the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by Khaleda Zia, and the Bangladesh Awami League Party, led by Sheikh Hasina. The Bangladesh Aw ...

Controversy

In 2008, Chowdhury was investigated by the International Crimes Tribunal and was accused of being a commander of the

Al-Badr Al Badr is a village in Mecca Province, in western Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making ...

paramilitary force. In 2010, he ranked 24th on the list of 40 top war criminals during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. A list was given to the Immigration Police by the

Ministry of Home Affairs An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

which also mentioned Chowdhury's name. The

Government of Bangladesh The Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh ( bn, গণপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশ সরকার — ) is the central executive government of Bangladesh. The government was constituted by the Co ...

also sent lists to various embassies with Chowdhury's name among 40 war criminals.

References

1947 births Living people People from Kanaighat Upazila Politicians from Sylhet Division Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami politicians 8th Jatiya Sangsad members 20th-century Bengalis Bangladeshi Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam 21st-century Bengalis Murari Chand College alumni Sylhet Government Alia Madrasah alumni Bengali Muslim scholars of Islam {{Sylhet-politician-stub