ID :
27564
Thu, 10/30/2008 - 19:11
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/27564
The shortlink copeid
Trial of HuJI leaders begins in Bangladesh
Dhaka, Oct 30 (PTI) A special Bangladesh court has indicted the chief of outlawed Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami (H.u.J.I.) and 21 others over the 2004 grenade attack on former premier Sheikh Hasina that had killed 24 people as security officials intensified vigil against the operatives of the militant group across the country.
Judge Mohammad Masdar Hussain of the speedy trial tribunal Wenesday framed charges against H.u.J.I. chief Mufti Mohammad Hannan and 21 others including Abdus Salam Pinto, a former junior minister of past Bangladesh Nationalist Party (B.N.P.)-led four party right wing government of ex Pime Minister Khaleda Zia.
Pinto was charged for extending support to the assailants in an attack on the rally of Hasina's Awami League while investigators earlier said that the detained suspects had confessed that it was actually carried out to kill the ex- premier who narrowly escaped the attempt.
The Judge fixed November 5 for starting the hearing as 14
detained accused appeared before the heavily guarded court at downtown Dhaka while the rest are being tried in absence.
"Our campaign against extremist elements, including the
HuJI, is underway while an intensified vigil has been ordered
and the trial of Mufti Mohammad Hannan (H.u.J.I. chief) and
others has begun," elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion
(R.A.B.) spokesman Abul Kalam Azad told PTI.
He, however, said that the Harkat-ul-Jihad appeared to
have lost its organisational strength owing to a massive
security clampdown in the past two years despite media reports
that the outfit was trying to regroup under different names.
Bangladesh banned Harkat-ul-Jihad for terrorism in Oct,
2005 while the United States, earlier this year, designated it
as a "Foreign Terrorist Organisation" and "Specially
designated Global Terrorist".
Indian Security forces suspect the outfit's link in the
May 13 Jaipur serial bombings this year.
Bangladesh police in June formally pressed charges
against 21 H.u.J.I. operatives including Hannan and Pinto for
carrying out the grenade attack on August 21, 2004.
The outfit is also believed to have carried out several
other blasts, including a 2001 bomb attack on crowds during
Bengali New Year celebrations at Dhaka's Ramna Batmul leaving
12 dead, blasts on a Communist party rally in 2005 claiming
five lives and attack on Anwar Choudhury-Bangladesh-born
British envoy- in Dhaka. PTI
Judge Mohammad Masdar Hussain of the speedy trial tribunal Wenesday framed charges against H.u.J.I. chief Mufti Mohammad Hannan and 21 others including Abdus Salam Pinto, a former junior minister of past Bangladesh Nationalist Party (B.N.P.)-led four party right wing government of ex Pime Minister Khaleda Zia.
Pinto was charged for extending support to the assailants in an attack on the rally of Hasina's Awami League while investigators earlier said that the detained suspects had confessed that it was actually carried out to kill the ex- premier who narrowly escaped the attempt.
The Judge fixed November 5 for starting the hearing as 14
detained accused appeared before the heavily guarded court at downtown Dhaka while the rest are being tried in absence.
"Our campaign against extremist elements, including the
HuJI, is underway while an intensified vigil has been ordered
and the trial of Mufti Mohammad Hannan (H.u.J.I. chief) and
others has begun," elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion
(R.A.B.) spokesman Abul Kalam Azad told PTI.
He, however, said that the Harkat-ul-Jihad appeared to
have lost its organisational strength owing to a massive
security clampdown in the past two years despite media reports
that the outfit was trying to regroup under different names.
Bangladesh banned Harkat-ul-Jihad for terrorism in Oct,
2005 while the United States, earlier this year, designated it
as a "Foreign Terrorist Organisation" and "Specially
designated Global Terrorist".
Indian Security forces suspect the outfit's link in the
May 13 Jaipur serial bombings this year.
Bangladesh police in June formally pressed charges
against 21 H.u.J.I. operatives including Hannan and Pinto for
carrying out the grenade attack on August 21, 2004.
The outfit is also believed to have carried out several
other blasts, including a 2001 bomb attack on crowds during
Bengali New Year celebrations at Dhaka's Ramna Batmul leaving
12 dead, blasts on a Communist party rally in 2005 claiming
five lives and attack on Anwar Choudhury-Bangladesh-born
British envoy- in Dhaka. PTI
