Deconstructing the Shahbagh Square protests

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Justice

Protesters want more than death sentences

http://www.dw.de/protesters-want-more-than-death-sentences/a-16623308

Dominated by kill lists and calls for executions, a series of protests and counter-protests keeps growing in Bangladesh. Organizers of the demonstration that sparked the unrest hope to redefine the country’s politics.

Organized largely by bloggers and activists, groups of people numbering as high as 100,000 have occupied the Shahbag district of Bengali capital, Dhaka, since early February.
The demonstrators gathered to call for the execution of Abdul Quader Mollah, the secretary general of the Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami. Mollah was sentenced on February 5 to life in prison after being convicted on over 340 counts of a number of crimes, including murder, rape and torture, during Bangladesh's war of independence from Pakistan in 1971. Jamaat opposed Bangladesh's independence and, like Mollah, some of its members are accused of committing war crimes during the conflict that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.
#shahbag demands
While protests, which have largely been organized online under the Twitter hashtag #shahbag for the occupied district, initially centered around Mollah, they have grown to call for the complete ban of Jamaat-e-Islami.

Protests started in Dhaka call for convicted war criminals to be executed for their crimes

"The Shahbag protest, in fact, is against Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, the root of all evil religious forces," blogger and Shahbag protest organizer Asif Mohiuddin told DW. “The execution of Quader Mollah is only a symbol. If we achieve victory in this battle, we will be one step closer to a secular Bangladesh.”
Clashes escalated on Friday resulting in the deaths of at least three people with some 200 more injured as police fired live rounds at Jamaat protesters who threw stones at authorities while demanding the end of war crimes charges leveled at Jamaat members as well as calling for the deaths of bloggers they accused of blasphemy for insulting the Prophet Mohammed and Islam.
Lethal consequences
Tempers have flared on both sides of the Shahbag protests since the death of blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider, who was found hacked to death by a machete outside his home near Dhaka last week. The atheist blogger was part of the network of bloggers organizing the Shahbag protests and was accused of writing anti-Islam posts. Police have questioned suspects but not arrested anyone in connection with his murder.

Tension has been high across Bangladesh since Mollah received a life sentence this month

Like Haider, Mohiuddin, who in 2012 won one of The Bobs, Deutsche Welle's Online Activism Awards, has seen his name turn up on kill lists circulating the country. He was hospitalized after a being stabbed eight times in a January attack.
"Newspapers backed by Jamaat-e-Islami have published reports with our photos," he said, referring to himself and the other secular bloggers on the lists, including two other winners of the Deutsche Welle Online Activism Awards. "Mosques and madrasas now have our pictures and they are looking for us."
Mohiuddin said the government told authorities to provide for the safety of the people named on kill lists, but added that neither he nor any threatened bloggers he knows had received any such protection.
In an interview with Deutsche Welle on Thursday, Amnesty International researcher Abbas Faiz said neither Shahbag protestors nor accused or convicted war criminals should face the execution.
"We believe that the initial stages of (the Shahbag) movement, their go for the death penalty, is not going to lead to the future that this movement itself is looking to bring to the country," she told DW. "The movement should call for justice. All of the victims and the survivors, they deserve justice, and it is the responsibility of the government to bring them to justice. But that justice has to respect certain principles."
Political corruption
Shahbag protesters, Mohiuddin said, are fed up with a lack of political and judicial transparency and a system that has allowed those accused of committing atrocities during the war that ended with Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan holding high political office instead of being put on trial.

Shahbag protesters want to make sure Mollah cannot ever re-enter politics

"The whole political and economic system is corrupt," Mohiuddin said. "Starting from government ministers to all political leaders out there."
It remains unclear if the Shahbag protests will ultimately lead to substantial change in Bangladesh, but for Mohiuddin the key will be whether Shahbag convinces young people become involved in politics.
"People don't have any political ideology and political thinking so criminalization of politics becomes very easy," he said. "We want to change the structure, and to do it we need our youth to participate in politics and grow their political consciousness. This protest is a new liberation war of Bangladesh to get rid of all kinds of fundamentalism."

DW.DE

Do not kill Bangladesh's war criminals: AI

Recent mass protests have called for the death penalty for perpetrators of war crimes. Amnesty International South Asia Researcher Abbas Faiz voices concern over new laws making it easier to sentence criminals to death. (21.02.2013) 

                         Deconstructing the Shahbagh Square protests

http://dawn.com/2013/02/25/deconstructing-the-shahbagh-square-protests/                     

Zeeshan Khan |

Bangladeshi students and pro-government supporters gather during a rally demanding death to Islamic political party leaders who are on trial for alleged war crimes during the country’s 1971 independence war, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013. Eight top leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami, the country’s largest Islamic party, are being tried on charges of mass killings, rapes and arson allegedly committed during Bangladesh’s nine-month war of separation from Pakistan. — AP Photo

DHAKA: The question of capital punishment stirs strong feelings and so it should. Every death brings bereavement. People unrelated to the crime – wives, children, siblings, husbands, parents – suffer as deep a loss as the people who lost loved ones because of it.

 

It can never be a wonderful thing to end a life, and as someone recently pointed out to me, to assume to possess the moral authority to do so is assuming quite a lot. At the very least, no death should ever be celebrated. The impassioned and festive calls by little children for Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) leader ‘Koshai’ Kader Mollah to be sent to the gallows for his crimes against humanity during the 1971 war of independence are certainly revolting, but perhaps that presents a limited view of what’s really going on all of a sudden in Bangladesh.
And what’s really happening is astounding. Thousands of people have gathered peacefully for days and nights in a country known for violent demonstrations; demanding that their judiciary deliver justice even when a combined assault by Jamaat and its student wing Shibir looms large and in some ways, has already begun.
The protests are decidedly non-partisan and have resisted every attempt by leading parties to use their movement, including the ruling Awami League which initiated the war crimes tribunal and whose tacit patronage they receive in the form of police protection, public toilets and parliamentary speeches.
They have however, allowed members of civil society, intellectuals, freedom fighters and activists to give speeches and have been endorsed by numerous non-political entities, including the Bangladesh cricket team.  In a country where partisan divisions go deep, this is truly an unprecedented development.
It began when a group of bloggers calling themselves the Bloggers and Online Activists Network or BOAN assembled at Shahbagh Square, now the centre stage for the sit-ins, and registered their disgust for the life sentence that was handed down to Kader Mollah, in spite of the fact that he had been found guilty of being complicit in murder and several cases of torture and rape, including that of an 11-year-old girl.
The news about the sit-in spread virally, and by late afternoon a few thousand people had added their voices. By the first week, it was somewhere between 300,000 and 500,000 people, with chapters springing up across the country. Meals are provided, wi-fi is free and open, performances are catered for, an enormous petition has been rolled out, people come with their families and everything about the place is communal and considerate – except towards Razakars (those who were members and supporters of pro-Pakistan militia), of course, who are being given no quarter at all.
Asif Moinuddin, one of the BOAN bloggers and a member of the core group at Shahbagh, who was stabbed a few months ago by Shibir cadres for blogging about atheism and religious fanaticism, says their agenda goes beyond the hangings. It’s about rooting out a culture of low and high level terrorism, the sort that he was a victim of, perpetrated in the name of religion. He said they are fighting for the right to live in a functional, secular country where their freedom of expression and thought is not constantly challenged and where political intimidation and impunity is a thing of the past.
He was careful to make it clear that this was not a movement against religion, but against the misuse of religion in politics and simply an affirmation of the principles that Bangladesh was founded on – nationalism, secularism, democracy and justice.
Even though on the surface, Bangladesh doesn’t look like Afghanistan or even Saudi Arabia, the influence of a particularly intolerant brand of Islam remains perilously close. JI’s leanings are consistent with many elements of these doctrines, and their website plainly demonstrates their desire to be involved in politics only because it’s a necessary evil by which the imposition of Shariah can be realised. Throughout the 1980’s and 90’s the term ‘shibir’ was synonymous with ‘horror’ as student wing activists routinely slit political opponents’ tendons and throats. During their tenure as part of the previous coalition government, a creeping religious censorship entered the public sphere and manifested itself as acts of vandalism or outright murder.
A sharp spike in activity against secular, academic, cultural, non-Muslim groups and even the prime minister ,was witnessed during this period and while most were perpetrated by groups like Jamaatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh (JMB) and Harkatul Jihad Islami (HuJI) and not by the JI, the fact that it happened on their watch is noteworthy. Some of these activities were carried out with Jamaat’s direct consent. The minority Ahmmadiya community was targeted, their literature banned and their mosques dismantled, and Shibbir activists viciously attacked the writer Humayun Azad with machetes for a book in which he exposed Jamaat’s militancy, both past and present.
The nation-wide fear of being held hostage to a radical interpretation of Islam is a very real one, and one that the Jamaat-Shibbir nexus perpetuates with their tactics of terror. Immediately after the first verdict, AbulKalam Azad aka BacchuRazakar’s death sentence, they declared a nationwide strike, which was marked by violence including the clubbing to near-death of a police officer.
They followed this up with a second equally violent strike, and went as far as threatening the government with civil war if more death penalties were issued. Over the last few days they have taken to the streets, shooting at the police indiscriminately, injuring many of them along with civilians. They have attacked Jahangirnagar University’s Vice Chancellor for going to Shahbagh and have entered into a sustained campaign of vilification, calling the movement an affront to God and the Prophet Muhammed (PBUH), and encouraging ‘God-fearing’ people everywhere to resist it.
Things have begun to get ugly with one of the BOAN bloggers, Rajib Haider being murdered in a way that bears all the signs of a JI hit. Violent clashes with the police have left people dead on both sidesand last Friday after Jumma prayers thousands of people across the country driven by JI’s smear campaign against the movementattacked journalists and symbols of Bengali nationalism byburning flags and vandalising a monument to the language martyrs of 1952. They have threatened to swoop on Shahbagh or bomb it and security is on high alert.
The Awami League government has begun developing legislation to ban JI from politics while simultaneously shutting down their sources of funding and communications and a full-scale political showdown is in the making. There have been skirmishes in mosques between pro and anti JI supporters and an uncomfortable polarisation is beginning to develop between a religious right that feels under attack and a secular left that is growing more and more emboldened.
Jamaat considers the War Crimes Tribunal a kangaroo court and have strongly questioned its integrity, along with the government’s motives, which they believe include vendetta and political manoeuvring. In a sort of upside down reality, their sentiments are shared by some western governments as well as rights groups and independent observers that claim the trial falls short of established standards of due process.
Muslim countries have also voiced their concerns, with the Turkish president going as far as sending a letter to the Bangladeshi prime minister asking for clemency for the accused. There have also been protests at the recent Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit against the government of Bangladesh.
Given all this, the government’s commitment to follow through(questionable verdicts notwithstanding), and the demonstrations at Shahbagh along with the nationwide solidarity they have encouraged, shows that this is an issue that still inflames.
Questions about the legality of challenging judicial rulings in as flagrant a manner as is being done in Shahbagh can also be added to an already enormous list of anomalies. It veers close to contempt of court, since a ruling can be challenged within the framework of appeals, but not on the streets. In a contradictory move, the Awami League, which has been able to stem their plummeting popularity by supporting the movement, has distanced itself from the courts, coming close to contempt of court themselves.
They have also hastily put together a bill, which will give powers to the prosecutor to appeal for a raised sentence; a power previously unavailable and also quite improper after a verdict has already been given. If the prosecution appeals and there’s every chance they will, then Kader Mollah’s case will be reviewed again. He’ll probably be found guilty and hanged. But if, as the observers say, the trials are politically motivated then we will have to ask ourselves if the right people are being punished for these horrific crimes. And if not, it begs the question: who and where are the real razakars?
What happens in the political realm in Bangladesh is always messy and murky, and if the people at Shahbagh are being used as a political tool then it’s most unfortunate. The energy that they have brought to the table is remarkable and their ability to control large numbers of people makes them a force to be reckoned with.
The macabre calls for death are certainly disturbing and the imprint it will leave on the country’s national psyche is cause for concern, but I’m heartened when I also hear slogans like golakatarajniti, rogkatarajniti ain kor e nishiddhokoro (ban the politics of terror) ‘moulobadirajniti ain korenishiddhokoro (ban fundamentalism), Ai Banglarmati, hobena Afghanistan, hobena Mali (Bengal will never be Afghanistan or Mali).
If the movement expands to become a cry for conscientious governance, as still other slogans suggest it might do, then it’s very encouraging indeed.
Zeeshan Khan is the Deputy Web Editor of the Dhaka Tribune, and has previously worked as a communication officer for DFID and the UN.

In Bangladesh, demands grow for execution of man convicted of war crimes during 1971 conflict

Published February 16, 2013

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/02/16/in-bangladesh-demands-grow-for-execution-man-convicted-war-crimes-during-171/

Associated Press

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FILE - In this Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013 file photo, Bangladeshi activists participate in a rally demanding the execution of Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdul Quader Mollah and others convicted of war crimes in Dhaka, Bangladesh. For many in Bangladesh, the ''V'' for victory sign was more than they could bear. They had waited more than four decades for justice in the mass killings and rapes during their independence war. But there was a smiling Mollah apparently celebrating his life sentence - given in place of an expected death sentence - for his role in the killing of 381 civilians. Within hours, thousands of university students demanding his death poured into the streets of Dhaka, the seeds of what has grown into a mass protest that has exposed again the unhealed wounds from the nation's 1971 war for independence from Pakistan. (AP Photo/A.M. Ahad, File) (The Associated Press)

DHAKA, Bangladesh –  For many in Bangladesh, the "V'' for victory sign was more than they could bear.

They had waited more than four decades for justice in the mass killings and rapes during their independence war. But there was a smiling Abdul Quader Mollah apparently celebrating his life sentence — given in place of an expected death sentence — for his role in the killing of 381 civilians.

Within hours, thousands of university students demanding his death poured into the streets of Dhaka, the seeds of what has grown into a mass protest that has exposed again the unhealed wounds from the nation's 1971 war for independence from Pakistan.

"I could not take it. That was really insulting," Gazi Nasiruddin Khokon, a protester who works for an online newspaper, said of Mollah's victorious gesture after his sentencing last week. "If we don't get proper justice for such crimes, where would we stand in the future?"

Mollah was convicted by a special war crimes tribunal that was set up to hold people accountable for the first time for their roles in the civil war, where Bangladesh says as many as 3 million people were killed and 200,000 women raped by Pakistani troops and local collaborators.

But the trials are also seen as part of a long and bitter rivalry between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the main opposition leader, former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, who is allied with the Islamic party Jamaat-e-Islami, many of whose leaders face charges before the tribunal.

Jamaat, which opposed Bangladesh's fight for independence, and Zia have called the tribunal politically motivated, while international rights groups have raised questions about the conduct of the trials. The head of one of the tribunals resigned in December over reports he had improper conversations with a lawyer about the panel.

Mollah, an assistant secretary of Jamaat, was found guilty Feb. 5 of killing a student and a family of 11 and of aiding Pakistani troops in killing 369 others. Members of his party took to the streets in anger at his conviction, exploding homemade bombs and clashing with police.

But they were soon overshadowed by thousands of protesters who flooded a major intersection in the capital, Dhaka, upset at what they said was a lenient verdict and inflamed by the image of Mollah smiling at journalists and holding up two fingers in a "V'' sign as he left the court.

Fueled by online posts, the protests grew until hundreds of thousands of people took over the Shahbagh intersection, which they renamed Projonmo Chattar, or New Generation Platform.

Many slept there, collecting donations for food. Others came after work and stayed late into the night, listening to chants for justice over loudspeakers. Some beat drums and wrapped their heads in scarves with slogans saying "We want death for the war criminals" and "Traitors have no place in this land."

The protesters also called for Jamaat to be banned.

The immensely popular national cricket team came to the site to express solidarity with the protesters, and on Thursday evening, organizers said more than 100,000 candles were lit at the site.

To counter any accusations that the protest was organized by Hasina's government, politicians were banned from the stage.

"This is a history. A new history is in the making," said Aminul Islam, a 30-year-old bank employee at the protest site.

"It is unbelievable," he said. "This is our fight, this is another war, not with rifles in hand, but with an unconditional urge to bringing those to book for killing our people and dishonoring our mothers and sisters."

Even though many of the protesters had not been born when the war raged, they were still scarred by it and the lack of accountability for those accused of crimes during the fighting, said Hassan Shahriar. To some that lack of accountability was reflected in the fact two members of Jamaat have served as cabinet ministers.

"Generation after generation have seen no remedy, no punishment for the perpetrators. Rather they have become influential political actors, social actors, and the new generation has been silently frustrated," he said. "The wounds are still fresh."

The protesters are also fed up with corruption, nepotism and other perceived injustices and have seized on the tribunals to express their dissatisfaction, he said.

In response to the demonstrations, the government sent a bill to Parliament that would amend the law creating the tribunals, allowing the prosecution to appeal if it felt a sentence handed down was too lenient.

Law Minister Shafique Ahmed said the bill is expected to be passed by Parliament on Sunday, and the government has said it would use it to appeal Mollah's sentence.

One legal analyst, Shahdeen Malik, said the amendments would strengthen the law, and that the country's legal system could be counted on to give verdicts based on evidence and not simply in response to street pressure.

But New York-based Human Rights Watch criticized the proposed amendments, saying that passing retroactive laws to overturn unpopular verdicts violated the country's commitments to protect the rights of defendants.

"Convictions of those responsible for the 1971 atrocities is important for the country, but not at the expense of the principles that make Bangladesh a democracy," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/02/16/in-bangladesh-demands-grow-for-execution-man-convicted-war-crimes-during-171/#ixzz2M0pTHQmv