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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| Abdur Rahman charged in absentia |
| 2005-08-27 |
| Shaikh Abdur Rahman, the suspected mastermind of hundreds of near-simultaneous bomb attacks across the country last week and who is on the run, has been charged in his absence in a Bangladesh court, police said Friday. âWe filed cases against Shaikh Abdur Rahman and a court (Thursday) issued a warrant of arrest against him,â Bangladesh Inspector General of Police Abdul Kaiyum told AFP. He said Rahman, leader of the extremist Jamaatul Mujahideen, had been charged with masterminding the August 17 attacks in which 434 small bombs exploded in 63 main cities and towns across Bangladesh, killing two people and injuring more than 100. The specific charges, another police officer said, were criminal conspiracy and exploding a bomb, which respectively carry jail terms of eight years and life. Leaflets bearing Jamayetul Mujahideenâs name and calling for the introduction of Islamic law were found at blast sites. âWe have evidence he was the mastermind of the attack. Based on our primary investigation we went to the court to get a warrant of arrest against the Jamayetul Mujahideen leader,â Kaiyum said. The national police chief said they had stepped up their hunt for Rahman and believed he was still hiding in the country. Government spokesman Mohammad Mohsin told a press briefing Thursday that four followers of Jamayetul Mujahideen have confessed that the group was involved. |
| Posted by:Fred |