А. Б. М. Мохиуддин Чоудхури: Бангладеш саяхаты және Читтагонг мэрінің өмірі мен қызметі

Bangladeshi politician

A. B. M. Mohiuddin Chowdhury (; 1 December 1944 – 15 December 2017) was a Bangladesh Awami League politician. He was the Mayor of Chittagong, the second largest city in Bangladesh, for three consecutive terms.

Chowdhury was born on 1 December 1944 in Gohira village, Raozan upazila, Chittagong District, East Bengal, British Raj. His father was Hosen Ahmed Chowdhury, a railway officer, and his mother was Bedowra Begum. After completing his SSC he joined Chittagong City College in 1962. He transferred the same year to Chittagong Polytechnic Institute. He was expelled from the institute for his involvement in student politics. He returned to Chittagong City College in 1965 and graduated in 1967. He started post graduate course at the University of Chittagong with a major in Islamic History and Culture. He dropped out before completing his master's degree.

Chowdhury was the general secretary of the Chittagong city unit of Chhatra League. He was leader of Sorbodolio Chhatra Sangram Parishad and organised a strike in Chittagong on 1 March 1971. After the 7 March 1971 speech by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Chowdhury and other student activists looted firearms from the Rifles Club and an arms depot in Majhirghat. He was arrested by the Pakistan Army soon but was released after he pretended to be insane in prison. He moved to India to train for the Mukti Bahini and was appointed a commander in the East Mount Battalion after his training. After the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, he formed a Mujib Bahini unit to resist the Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad government. He was arrested by the government. he fled to India on being released. He became the President of Chittagong city Awami League in 2006. He served 17 years until his electoral defeat by Bangladesh Nationalist Party candidate M Manjurul Alam in 2010. Chowdhury was the first mayor in Bangladesh to establish a private university – Premier University, Chittagong, which was hosted at the premises of Chittagong City Corporation. After he took office, the corporation established nine postsecondary colleges, computer training centres, a midwife training centre, a healthcare technology training centre (the first in Bangladesh to train in the operation of health care technology including radiology and radiography) and eight night colleges to expand adult literacy. The Chittagong city authority also manages eight Hindu religious education centers (known as Sanskrit Toll) to provide religious education in Sanskrit to minority students.

After the army backed government assumed power in Bangladesh in January 2007, Mohiuddin and other politicians in the country were arrested in an overnight raid on 7 March. He was incarcerated (mostly incommunicado) in various prisons in the country. When first arrested, unlike other arrested leaders he was taken to a remote jail in Bandarban (a district of Chittagong Hill Tracts). Whilst in prison, Chowdhury's daughter was diagnosed with blood cancer in Thailand. He was detained without trial for 21 months, the government did not release him from prison to see his dying daughter. He was finally released from prison on 8 October 2008 following a High Court order. Despite his release, the army backed government retained his passport and did not allow him to fly to Thailand in time to see his daughter. On 17 October, when the government finally permitted him to fly abroad and just minutes before he boarded the aircraft en route to Bangkok, Chowdhury's daughter died.

Chowdhury died at 3:00 am on 15 December 2017. He was buried in his family graveyard at Chashma Hill with an honor guard performed by Bangladesh Police.