Farid Uddin Chowdhury (; born 25 December 1947) is a teacher, politician and businessman. He was the former Member of Parliament for the

Sylhet-5 Sylhet-5 is a parliamentary constituency of Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the w ...

constituency from 2001 to 2008, representing

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami is the largest Islamist political party in Bangladesh. The origin of the party can be traced back to the original faction founded by Sayyid Abul A'la Maududi in 1941. The predecessor of Jamaat which is known as Ja ...

Early life and education

Chowdhury was born on 25 December 1947 into a

Bengali Muslim Bengali Muslims (; ) 'Mussalman'' also used in this work./ref> are adherents of Islam who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. Comprising over 70% of the global Bengali population, they are the second-largest ...

family in Talbari village, Kanaighat,

Sylhet District Sylhet District (), located in north-east Bangladesh, is one of the four districts in Sylhet Division, which contains Sylhet, the regional capital. History Sylhet District was established on 3 January 1782, and until 1878 it was part of Benga ...

East Bengal East Bengal (; ''Purbô Bangla/Purbôbongo'') was the eastern province of the Dominion of Pakistan, which covered the territory of modern-day Bangladesh. It consisted of the eastern portion of the Bengal region, and existed from 1947 until 195 ...

. 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 , ), sometimes Romanization of Arabic, romanized as madrasah or madrassa, is the Arabic word for any Educational institution, type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whet ...

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, where he earned his

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

Bengali language Bengali, also known by its endonym and exonym, endonym Bangla (, , ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language belonging to the Indo-Iranian languages, Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. ...

in 1971.

Career

Chowdhury began his career as an

imam Imam (; , '; : , ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a prayer leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Salah, Islamic prayers, serve as community leaders, ...

at the Gohorpur Mosque in Balaganj. He later became the principal of the Shahjalal Jamia School in Mirabazar,

Sylhet Sylhet (; ) is a Metropolis, metropolitan city in the north eastern region of Bangladesh. It serves as the administrative center for both the Sylhet District and the Sylhet Division. The city is situated on the banks of the Surma River and, as o ...

. 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 candidate of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami 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 en ...

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

and

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

but was unsuccessful. During the

2001 Bangladeshi general election General elections were held in Bangladesh on 1 October 2001. The 300 seats of the Jatiya Sangsad were contested by 1,935 candidates representing 54 parties and 484 independents. The elections were the second to be held under the caretaker govern ...

, he was elected to parliament for the

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 Awam ...

Controversy

In 2008, Chowdhury was investigated by the International Crimes Tribunal and was accused of being a commander of the Al-Badr paramilitary force. In 2010, he ranked 24th on the list of 40 top war criminals during the

Bangladesh Liberation War The Bangladesh Liberation War (, ), also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, was an War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali nationalism, Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in East Pakistan, which res ...

in 1971. A list was given to the Immigration Police by the

Ministry of Home Affairs An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the i ...

which also mentioned Chowdhury's name. The

Government of Bangladesh The government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh () is the central government of Bangladesh. The government was constituted by the Constitution of Bangladesh comprising the executive (the president, prime minister and cabinet), the ...

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