Bangladesh protests trigger changes to war crimes law

Three killed in Bangladesh clashes over war crimes trials

15 February 2013 Last updated at 17:39 GMT

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21477499

Police in Cox's Bazar accused Jamaat protesters of attacking them with firearms

Continue reading the main story

Three people have died in the Bangladeshi city of Cox's Bazar in protests over a war crimes tribunal.

The three were killed in clashes between police and supporters of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, one of whose leaders was convicted by the tribunal last week.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands have gathered in the capital Dhaka to demand the death penalty for those convicted.
The tribunal is investigating crimes dating from the 1971 independence war.
A senior police officer told the BBC's Bengali Service that the three supporters of Jamaat were killed during a gun battle. He said the protesters used fire arms and crude bombs against the police.
"We first used rubber bullets and tear gas shells to disperse them. But they kept on attacking us. So, we opened fire on the protesters. Three people were killed but we are not sure whether they were killed by our bullets," officer Mohammad Azad Mia said.
However, a local leader of the Jamaat denied that their supporters were using fire arms against the police.
The Jamaat has called for a country-wide general strike on Monday in protest at the deaths.

Continue reading the main story

Bangladesh independence war, 1971

• Civil war erupts in Pakistan, pitting the West Pakistan army against East Pakistanis demanding autonomy and later independence
• Fighting forces an estimated 10 million East Pakistani civilians to flee to India
• In December, India invades East Pakistan in support of the East Pakistani people
• Pakistani army surrenders at Dhaka and its army of more than 90,000 become Indian prisoners of war
• East Pakistan becomes the independent country of Bangladesh on 16 December 1971

• Key defendants
• Article that changed history
• Scars of war 40 years on
• Bangladesh confronts war crimes

Controversial tribunal

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people gathered in Dhaka demanding the death penalty for those convicted by the tribunal.
The protest has been going on for the last eleven days and on Friday it attracted more people from all walks of life, the BBC's Anbarasan Ethirajan reports from Dhaka.
The demonstration at a busy intersection started after Jamaat leader Abdul Kader Mullah was sentenced to life in prison in connection with mass murder and torture during the war.
Ten others, eight of them Jamaat party leaders, are on trial at the International Crimes Tribunal set up by the Bangladeshi government.
The other two are members of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), one a former minister.
Jamaat is an ally of the BNP, bitter political rivals of current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who has made prosecuting war crimes a key goal of her government.
Human rights groups have said the tribunal falls short of international standards. Jamaat and the BNP accuse the current government of pursuing a political vendetta through the tribunal.
Official estimates say more than three million people were killed in the 1971 war which resulted in independence from Pakistan.
The authorities say the defendants opposed independence and either fought alongside or actively supported the Pakistani authorities.

Bangladesh protests trigger changes to war crimes law

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21492198

Cannot play media. You do not have the correct version of the flash player. Download the correct version

The BBC's James Kelly looks back at the demonstrations many believe have forced the government's hand

Continue reading the main story

Bangladesh's parliament has amended a law which will allow the state to appeal against the life sentence of an Islamist party leader, after protesters called for his execution.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators in the capital, Dhaka, cheered the news.
The legal amendment also paves the way for the prosecution and potential ban of the Jamaat-e-Islami party.
Jamaat chief Abdul Kader Mullah was given life for his alleged role in crimes in the 1971 independence war.
The ruling sparked nearly two weeks of angry mass protests in Dhaka and other cities.
Demonstrators - mainly young men and women - demanded the death penalty for Mullah and 10 others accused of committing crimes against humanity during the country's war of independence war with Pakistan in 1971.
The announcement comes a day after three people were killed in clashes between police and Jamaat supporters.
The Jamaat has called for a country-wide general strike on Monday in protest at the deaths.

Bitter rivals

On Sunday, tens of thousands of protesters gathered in a busy intersection of Dhaka burst into cheers after the Bangladeshi parliament approved the changes to the existing law, the BBC's Anbarasan Ethirajan reports from the capital.
The government and others can now appeal against verdicts at the International Crimes Tribunal, set up in 2010 to try those Bangladeshis accused of collaborating with Pakistani forces and committing atrocities during the war, our correspondent says.
The amendment will also give powers to the special tribunal to prosecute any organisations or political parties allegedly involved in war crimes.
If found guilty, the party "can be banned" from politics, law minister Shafique Ahmed said.
Critics say the provision is aimed at the Jamaat, which opposed Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan, our correspondent reports.
The Islamist party says the latest changes to the law is nothing but an attempt by the government to destroy the party.
Eight of the accused are Jamaat party leaders, while the remaining two are members of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), one a former minister.
Jamaat is an ally of the BNP, bitter political rivals of current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who has made prosecuting war crimes a key goal of her government.
Human rights groups have said the tribunal falls short of international standards. Jamaat and the BNP accuse the current government of pursuing a political vendetta through the tribunal.
Official estimates say more than three million people were killed in the 1971 war which resulted in independence from Pakistan.

Bangladesh amends war crimes law, mulls banning Islamists

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/02/17/uk-bangladesh-protest-idUKBRE91G09E20130217?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

By Anis Ahmed

DHAKA | Sun Feb 17, 2013 3:33pm GMT
(Reuters) - Bangladesh's parliament, meeting demands of protesters thronging the capital, amended a law on Sunday allowing the state to appeal any verdict in war crimes trials it deems inadequate and out of step with public opinion.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators jamming central Shahbag Square for the 13th day burst into cheers amid driving rain as the assembly approved the changes.
The protesters have been demanding the death penalty for war crimes after a tribunal this month sentenced a prominent Islamist to life in prison in connection with Bangladesh's 1971 war of independence from Pakistan.
The life sentence pronounced on Abdul Quader Mollah, assistant Secretary General of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, for murder, rape and torture had stunned many Bangladeshis.
The amendment will "empower the tribunals to try and punish any organisations, including Jamaat-e-Islami, for committing crimes during country's liberation war in 1971", Law Minister Shafique Ahmed said after the change was approved.
Lawyers said the amendment sets a timetable for the government to appeal against Mollah's sentence and secure a retrial. The previous law did not allow state prosecutors to call for a retrial except in the case of acquittals.
Adoption was quick -- less than a week after the amendment was approved by the cabinet in the overwhelmingly Muslim country of 150 million.
OPPOSITION BOYCOTTS PARLIAMENT
Opposition benches were empty as the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (the BNP) of former premier Begum Khaleda Zia and its allies have been boycotting sessions almost since her arch rival, Sheikh Hasina, leader of the Awami League, took office in 2009.
On Sunday, BNP leaders and activists held a rally outside the party's central office in the capital, calling for the next parliamentary election in January 2014 to be held under a non-party caretaker administration.
"The government is trying to use the protests over the war crime trials to divert attention form critical national issues such as our demand for election under a caretaker authority to ensure a clean and unbiased vote," BNP's acting Secretary-General, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, told the rally.
Other BNP leaders urged the demonstrators at Shahbag to speak out against "corruption, politicisation of the administration ahead of the polls and tampering the judiciary to persecute rivals."
Hasina and Khaleda have rotated as prime minister of the south Asian country since 1991 and their unending enmity has earned them a reputation as the "Battling Begums."
The two are likely to face off again in the next polls, party officials said.
The BNP also accuses the prime minister of using the war crimes tribunal as a weapon against her opponents. Hasina denies the accusation.
In its first verdict last month, the tribunal sentenced a former Jamaat leader, Abul Kamal Azad, also an Islamic preacher, to death in absentia for killing, murder and torture.
Eight other Jamaat leaders, including its current and former chiefs, are being tried by the war crimes court that Hasina set up in 2010 to investigate abuses during the 1971 conflict. Three million people were killed and thousands of women were raped.
The government is facing growing pressure from the protesters to ban Jamaat-e-Islami, the country's largest Islamist party, and groups linked to it.
Law minister Shafique Ahmed told reporters the government was considering such a ban.
Jamaat activists have called a country-wide strike for Monday, but demonstrators and many shopkeepers have pledged to resist any attempt to enforce such a stoppage.
The authorities deployed paramilitary soldiers in the capital on Sunday evening trying to prevent violence during and ahead of the strike.
Bangladesh became part of Pakistan at the end of British rule in 1947 but broke away in 1971 after a war between Bangladeshi nationalists, backed by India, and Pakistani forces.
Some factions in what was then East Pakistan opposed the break with Pakistan. Jamaat denies accusations that it opposed independence and helped the Pakistani army.

Bangladesh tense amid war crime protests http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2013/02/20132186185999565.html

Protester killed during strike after government amends law to allow retrial of politicians charged with war crimes. Last Modified: 18 Feb 2013 17:48

Bangladesh continues to face political and social unrest over trial of opposition Jamaat-e-Islami leaders accused of involvement in murder and other atrocities during country's liberation war in 1971. Police on Monday shot dead a protester in demonstrations in eastern Bangladesh amid a nationwide strike called by the Jamaat-e-Islami party. Authorities kept schools and colleges open and many businesses reopened on Monday. Jamaat, the country's largest Islamic party, called the strike to protest against the death last Friday of four of its activists in police shooting in the southeastern city of Cox's Bazaar. At least 14 people have been killed so far during protests against government trials of Jamaat leaders. Monday’s violence erupted in the town of Chouddogram, a day after Bangladesh parliament amended war crime laws to allow groups, not just individuals, to be prosecuted for war crimes. The amendment will "empower the tribunals to try and punish any organisations, including Jamaat-e-Islami, for committing crimes during country's liberation war in 1971", Shafique Ahmed, Bangladesh law minister, said. Amendment cheered Tens of thousands of demonstrators have been camping in the central Shahbag Square in the capital, Dhaka, for the last couple of weeks demanding capital punishment for those found guilty. The protests come after a tribunal this month sentenced a prominent Jamaat-e-Islami leader to life in prison in connection with Bangladesh's 1971 war of independence from Pakistan. The opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of Begum Khaleda Zia, former prime minister, and its Jamaat allies have been boycotting sessions almost since her rival, Sheikh Hasina Wajed, the current prime minister, took office in 2009. Protests erupted after Abdul Quader Mollah, Jamaat's assistant secretary-general, was sentenced to life for murder, rape and torture. Lawyers said Sunday's amendment sets a timetable for the government to appeal against Mollah's sentence and secure a retrial. The previous law did not allow state prosecutors to call for a retrial except in the case of acquittals. Politicians on trial In its first verdict last month, the tribunal sentenced a former Jamaat leader, Abul Kamal Azad, to death in absentia for similar offences. Eight other Jamaat leaders, including its current and former chiefs, are being tried by the tribunal, set up in 2010 to investigate abuses during the 1971 conflict. Tens of thousand of pro-liberation Bengalis were killed during the war, many by pro-Pakistani militias whose members allegedly included Jamaat officials. Supporters of Jamaat have held rallies to question the war tribunal’s neutrality. They have described the tribunal as politically motivated and demanded that the Jamaat leaders be tried under the auspices of the UN. The BNP has accused Hasina's Awami League-led government of using the tribunal as a weapon against its opponents. Hasina has denied the allegation.

Bangladesh war crimes protests continue

Trial of politicians allegedly involved in crimes during the country's 1971 liberation war has led to weeks of protest. Last Modified: 19 Feb 2013 10:30

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2013/02/2013219102023977820.html

Bangladesh continues to face political and social unrest, as leaders of the opposition Jamaat-e-Islami political party are on trial accused of involvement in murder and other atrocities during country's liberation war in 1971. Tens of thousands of demonstrators have been camping in the central Shahbag Square in the capital, Dhaka, for the last couple of weeks demanding capital punishment for those found guilty. Supporters of Jamaat-e-Islami have also been staging rallies.  Protests erupted after Abdul Quader Mollah, Jamaat's assistant secretary-general, was sentenced to life for murder, rape and torture. Eight other Jamaat leaders, including its current and former chiefs, are being tried by the tribunal, set up in 2010 to investigate abuses during the 1971 conflict. Tens of thousand of pro-liberation Bengalis were killed during the war, many by pro-Pakistani militias whose members allegedly included Jamaat officials. Supporters of Jamaat have held rallies to question the war tribunal’s neutrality.