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| Bangladesh |
| 14 Huji men freshly indicted after revising charges |
| 2014-09-15 |
| [Dhaka Tribune] A Dhaka court has freshly indicted chief of banned Islamist outfit HuJI Founded in 1984 by Fazlur Rehman Khalil and Qari Saifullah Aktar. The Bangla branch was established in 1992 with assistance from Osama bin Laden. Recruits come mostly from Deobandi madrassahs. HuJI and Fazlur Rehman Khalil are signators of bin Laden's declaration of war on the west. Mufti Abdul Hannan and 13 others in the explosives case filed over blasting bombs during the Pahela Baishakh celebrations at Ramna Batamul in 2001. Judge Shahed Nur Uddin of the Speedy Trial Tribunal 1 reframed the charges yesterday following a prosecution petition. In the petition filed on August 7, special public prosecutor Abu Abdullah Bhuiyan mentioned that the HuJI men had earlier been charged in the case under a wrong section of law. After the framing of charges under sections 3 and 6 of the Explosive Substances Act, the court has fixed September 21 for further trial of the case. So far, seven witnesses have testified in the case. The court said on September 21 it would decide on whether to recall the seven witnesses or continue deposition of the other witnesses. On April 16, 2009, the then metropolitan sessions judge ANM Bashir Ullah framed the charges under section 26 of the Special Powers Act and section 3 of the Explosive Substances Act. As per the two sections of the Explosive Substances Act, if found guilty, the accused would be handed down death penalty. Of the 14 accused, nine including Mufti Hannan are in jail while the rest on the run. In the killing case lodged over the same incident, a Dhaka court on June 23 handed down death penalty to eight HuJI members, including Hannan, and sentenced six others to life imprisonment. Later the prosecution filed a petition to reframe the charges upon a Supreme Court directive in the case which was sought in 2009. Ten people were killed and scores injured in the blast on April 14, 2001 while cultural group Chhayanaut was performing at the Bangla year celebrations. Two cases were filed with the Ramna police -- one for murder and the other for possession and use of explosive substances. The Criminal Investigation Department pressed charges on December 30, 2008 in both the cases. The other accused are Arif Hasan alias Suman alias Abdur Razzak, Maulana Akbar Hossain alias Helal Uddin, Alhaj Maulana Md Tajuddin (absconding), Hafez Jahangir Alam Badar (absconding), Maulana Abu Bakar alias Hafez Selim Hawlader (absconding), Mufti Shafiqur Rahman (absconding), Mufti Abdul Hye (absconding), Hafez Maulana Yahiya, Maulana Shawkat Osman alias Sheikh Farid, Maulana Sabbir alias Abdul Hannan, Maulana Abu Taher, Shahadat Ullah alias Jewel and Maulana Abdur Rouf. Mufti Hannan is facing charges in 24 other cases. In his statement made on November 19, 2006, he said they had carried out the attack since the programme was "anti-Islamic." |
| Posted by:Fred |