Salah Choudhury

He is married to Shahnaj Choudhury and has two children.

Salah Choudhury was born as Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury on January 12, 1965, in Sylhet Medical College Hospital, Sylhet, Bangladesh, as the eldest child of Ghulam Ather Choudhuri and Sharifa Choudhury.

He began his professional career in 1989 with Soviet Union’s Itar-TASS News Agency as a correspondent. He was then promoted as its chief correspondent in Bangladesh in 1991.

With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1996, a number of Itar-TASS offices were closed across the world, including Bangladesh, thereby leaving Salah jobless.

He launched the first ever private television channel in Bangladesh, A-21 TV, in 1996.

In 2001, he joined ‘Daily Inqilab’, a newspaper run by war criminal Maulana Abdul Mannan, leader of the most powerful Bangladeshi Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami.

He served as the managing director of Inqilab Television, a private TV venture of Daily Inqilab.

He was felicitated with the Freedom to Write Award from PEN USA in 2005, towards his contribution in the field of journalism.

In 2006, he was honored with the Moral Courage Award from the American Jewish Committee. He wasn’t able to receive the same as he was stopped by the Bangladesh government to travel to the United States.

He received the Monaco Media Award from HRH Prince Albert of Monaco, in 2007 towards his commitment in creating a mutual understanding between Israel and the Islamic world.

His book ‘Non Sono Colpevole’ was the first book written by a Bangladeshi journalist to be translated into Italian, which was released by Neftasia publication house in 2008.

He was presented with the Key to Englewood from Mayor Michael Wildes and a certificate of moral courage from New Jersey Mayor Elie Katz.