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| Wednesday, 1 September 2004 |
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Ten sentenced to death in Bangladesh for killing politicians at rally DHAKA, Tuesday (AFP) A court sentenced 10 people to death for shooting dead five politicians at a 1999 political rally in Bangladesh, which has been scarred by years of political violence, a report said Tuesday. Twelve others were given life imprisonment Monday by the court in the western city of Kushtia, the UNB news agency said. The accused were convicted of gunning down Kazi Aref Ahmed, president of the Jatiya Samjtanrik Dal communist party, and four of his colleagues at a party rally on February 16, 1999. The prosecution said the convicts belonged to a leftist extremist party, Gano Bahini, blamed for scores of shooting deaths in lawless areas of western Bangladesh. The Jatiya Samjtanrik Dal communist party hailed the verdict. "We believe this judgement will play a vital role in terms of (helping stop) political killings in Bangladesh," party president Hasannul Haque Inu told AFP. Political violence, military coups and bombings have studded the history of Bangladesh, formerly east Pakistan, which became a nation in 1971. Most recently, blasts ripped through an August 21 rally of the main opposition Awami League in the capital, Dhaka, killing 20 people and wounding over 100. The party said the attack was a bid to assassinate its leader, Sheikh Hasina Wajed. Sheikh Hasina's father, former president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was slain by soldiers in 1975 along with most of the family. Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's husband, Ziaur Rahman who was also president, was assassinated in 1981. Executions are rare in Bangladesh with the last hanging reported in May. But death sentences have been handed down with increasing frequency since November 2002 when fast-track courts were established as part of a crackdown on crime. |
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