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| Bangladesh |
| Prosecutors move further apart over Jamaat trial |
| 2014-05-20 |
| [Dhaka Tribune] Division within the prosecution team of the International Crimes Tribunal has now aggravated further regarding the trial of Jamaat-e-Islami ... The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independentbranch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... as a political party for committing war crimes. At a meeting on May 11, the seven-member team -- dealing with the case to press formal charges against the party --was asked to hand over all documents and advance reports of the case to acting chief prosecutor Syed Haider Ali for scrutiny. Yesterday, prosecutor Tureen Afroz, coordinator of the team dealing with the case, wrote to the chief prosecutor, not the acting chief prosecutor, and replied that the team could not hand over the materials. In the letter, Tureen said they would wait for a decision and instructions on the matter. All these documents are kept at the office of the Chief Prosecutor, Golam Arif Tipoo, who is now out of office. He joined office on April 30 but has not attended it since. Some members of the team are confused over the meeting's resolution. They think the decision was made to shift the case to other prosecutors. Some prosecutors have also questioned the legitimacy of such a resolution. The confusion arose as a quarter of the prosecution team had been opposing the commencement of the trial, after considering its necessity and the political situation of the country. They also doubted whether it would be possible to punish Jamaat under the existing laws. |
| Posted by:Fred |