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Bangladesh

Bangla: Mufti Hanan hanged

2017-04-13

[DAWN] Bangla­desh hanged three Islamist murderous Moslems including the leader of a banned Lion of Islam outfit on Wednesday, after they were sentenced to death over a 2004 grenade attack on the British ambassador. The authorities hanged Mufti Abdul Hannan, the leader of Harkatul Jihad Al Islami (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. ), and one of his associates at Kashimpur prison just outside Dhaka and another associate in a jail in the northeastern city of Sylhet, home minister Asaduzzaman Khan said. "They were hanged at 10 pm (1600 GMT)," he said. The three were sentenced to death in 2008 for the grenade attack four years earlier at a 14th-century Sufi shrine in Sylhet, which killed three people and injured the British high commissioner at the time. Bangladesh’s highest court last month upheld the death sentence, rejecting the final appeals by Hannan and the two associates, Delwar Hossain and Sharif Shahedul Islam. They had sought clemency from the Bangladesh president in a last-ditch attempt to commute the execution orders to life sentences, but he rejected their pleas. A madressah teacher who studied in India and Pakistain, Hannan, 60, fought against the Soviets in Afghanistan before returning to join HuJI, a group founded for jihadists who fought in that war. Prosecutors said Hannan had headed HuJI since the late 1990s, criminal masterminding deadly attacks on a church, secular gatherings, and mosques used by Islam’s minority sects. In August 2004, in one of the country’s deadliest Lion of Islam attacks, he criminal masterminded the blasts at a political rally of the current Prime Minister the loathesome Sheikh Hasina ...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia show such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as the Battling Begums.. outside her party office in central Dhaka. Hasina, then leader of the opposition, narrowly survived what she said was an liquidation attempt. At least 22 people were killed and more than 100 were maimed. By the time Hannan was tossed in the slammer Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! in late 2005, more than 100 people had been killed in attacks he orchestrated across the Moslem-majority nation. HuJI was the first Islamist Lion of Islam outfit to emerge in Bangladesh, and rose to prominence as Hannan escalated its deadly operations under his leadership.

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Bangladesh

Huji operative arrested with arms, ammo

2011-05-19

[Bangla Daily Star] Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) incarcerated a suspected operative of banned Harkatul Jihad Al Islami (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. and discovered a cache of firearms, explosives and bomb making materials in his shop on Tuesday night. A badman, regardless of orientation. A fair trial and a quick hanging are hopefully in his future. Arrested Abdul Alim, 46, son of Ainuddin Laskar of East Khajurapara in Jhenidah, is an active member of the outfit and also an arms trader, Rab says. He was incarcerated with firearms and bomb making materials from Jibonnagar upazila of Chuadanga in 1998, but was later released on bail. Produced at a press briefing at Rab-6 headquarters in the town yesterday, Alim denied his involvement with HuJI but confessed to dealing in illegal arms. Commanding Officer Maj Shakhawat Hossain told journalists that they contacted Alim through middlemen a few days ago expressing interest to buy two shutter guns. Alim, also known as Halim, asked them to go to his timber shop near Aratpur Masterpara outside the town around 8:30pm on Tuesday. Plainclothes Rab men went to his shop accordingly and engaged in a conversation with him. They incarcerated him when he produced two shutter guns, said Rab officials. On information from Alim, Rab men searched his shop and recovered two more shutter guns, a 9mm pistol loaded with one bullet, a revolver and a pipe gun. The Rab team also recovered two live bombs, half kg of gunpowder, two magazines, cartridge making equipment, bomb making materials, batteries of mobile phones and eight books on jihad. Alim was taken to the Rab-6 headquarters for interrogation. About the books on Jihad seized from his shop, Alim said he used to read those for knowledge.

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Bangladesh

Huji leader Farid on 5-day remand

2011-05-11

[Bangla Daily Star] A Dhaka court on Tuesday placed Sheikh Farid, a leader of banned Harkatul Jihad Al Islami (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. on a five-day remand in a case filed for kaboom on a Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) rally in 2001. Metropolitan Magistrate Keshab Roy Chowdhury passed the order after Inspector of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Mrinal Kanti Saha, also the Investigation Officer (IO) of the case, produced him before the court with a 10-day remand prayer. He was produced before it on completion of his four-day remand in connection with the August 21 grenade attack case on an Awami League rally in 2004. Farid was shown nabbed in the case on April 28 for his allege involvement with the incident. In the remand prayer, the IO mentioned that another HuJI leader Abu Zandal in a statement given on October 10, 2010 Farid was involved with the kabooms that took place on January 20, 2001. So, he needs to be remanded to gather name, addresses and seize evidences of the other attackers.

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Bangladesh

Huji chief Sabbir remanded again

2011-05-10

[Bangla Daily Star] A Dhaka court on Monday placed Abdul Hannan Sabbir, acting chief of banned Harkatul Jihad Al Islami (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. on a five-day fresh remand in a case filed for kaboom on a Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) rally in 2001. Metropolitan Magistrate Keshab Roy Chowdhury passed the order after Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Inspector Mrinal Kanti Saha, also the Investigation Officer (IO) of the case, produced him before the court on completion of his five-day remand in the same case. The IO on Monday sought his 10-day remand. In the prayer, the investigation officer mentioned that Sabbir was directly involved with the kaboom. So, he needs to be remanded to find out whereabouts of the other attackers. "Fetch the mustache wax and the Number 7 truncheons!" Earlier on May 3, Sabbir was granted a five-day remand for interrogation in the case. Rapid Action Battalion on April 25 tossed in the clink two HuJI members, including Sabbir, from a hideout at Keraniganj.

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Bangladesh

Cops hunt for 40 Huji operatives

2010-01-20

[Bangla Daily Star] Around 40 operatives of outlawed Harkatul Jihad Al Islami (Huji) including convicted and charge-sheeted accused of different bomb attack cases are still on the run, posing a threat to the country. Some of the absconding militants are holding secret meetings and were even training up members at a secluded place in Mohammadpur in the capital a few months ago. However, the militants cancelled the training and abandoned the area after different intelligence and law-enforcement agencies started a hunt for them months after the present government assumed power, intelligence and Huji sources say. The absconding Huji leaders include some of the top brasses like Mufti Shafiqur Rahman, Sheikh Farid, Maulana Abu Bakar, Abdul Hannan Sabbir, Maulana Liton, Abdul Hye, Abu Jehad, Abu Musa, Abdullah, Sagir Bin Emdad, Maulana Monir, Maulana Masum and Golam Mostafa. Most of them have training on sophisticated weapons and grenades. Sources in the law-enforcement agencies believe the militants responsible for deadly bomb and grenade attacks and death of over 90 people since 1999 are still a threat. However, top officials from Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and Detective Branch (DB) say since the absconding militants are on the run, possibility of any attack by them is very slim. "There is little chance of any attack by Huji men since we are always after them," Rab Director General Hassan Mahmood Khandkar told The Daily Star recently. DB Deputy Commissioner Monirul Islam also expressed similar view on the issue. The Rab DG said they have lists of the members of not only Huji but also other militant outfits including banned Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and are always after them. Some Afghan war veterans launched the Bangladesh chapter of Huji on April 30, 1992 with an aim to establish Islamic rule in the country. Since then it spread its tentacles across the country until 1996 with the very knowledge of the then government. After the political changeover in 2001 Huji again started its activities which were an open secret to the BNP-Jamaat-led alliance government. Probes into the August 21 attempt on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's [then main opposition leader] life have already revealed involvement of former deputy minister of BNP government Abdus Salam Pintu and a number of Huji leaders. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is now carrying out further investigation into the cases and has already arrested BNP leader and former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar and Huji founder Sheikh Abdus Salam. The sources say an influential intelligence agency helped Maulana Tajuddin, who supplied grenades for the August 21 attacks, flee the country. The sources add the agency in October 2004 also helped Hafez Jahangir Badar flee to Saudi Arabia where he became a major source of Huji funding later. Some Huji kingpins including the outfit's founders Sheikh Abdus Salam and Shawkat Osman alias Sheikh Farid even used to meet a section of officials of that intelligence agency during the BNP-Jamaat rule and even during the immediate past caretaker rule, say the sources. Salam, arrested in November last year in connection with the August 21 carnage, claimed he had maintained connection with the agency and tried to form Islamic Democratic Party (IDP) with its consent during the caretaker regime. Some 475 Afghan war veterans joined the IDP, sources say. The attacks by Huji include the August 21 carnage in 2004, Ramna Batamul blast in 2001, Udichi blast in 1999, Narayanganj Awami League office blast in 2001, CPB rally blast at Paltan Maidan in 2001, and attempt on the then British high commissioner in 2004. The sources say intelligence agencies launched raids on Huji hideouts to trap militant leaders including Shawkat Osman alias Sheikh Farid in vain in recent months. Two of the Huji absconders -- Anisul Mursalin and Muhibul Mottakin -- are now in Tihar Jail in India after they were arrested by the Indian security forces in 2006.

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Bangladesh

Lashkar linked to grenade attacks

2009-10-04

[Bangla Daily Star] Investigators will show detained top Lashkar-e-Taiba leaders Mufti Obaidullah and Monsur Ali arrested in a number of deadly grenade and bomb attack cases soon as the two disclosed significant information about such attacks. "We already initiated a move to show them arrested in the CPB rally [at Paltan on January 20, 2001] blast cases and having them in remand in those cases today. We suspect they might have been involved in the attack," said a top official in the Criminal Investigation Department. The official said they are also thinking about having them in remand in a case filed in connection with the grenade attack on Awami League rally on August 21, 2004 that killed 23 AL leaders and workers. According to information gleaned from the two top Indian militants during interrogation, they had secret meetings at Harkatul Jihad Al Islami leader Mufti Hannan's residence before his arrest in 2005 and had maintained close contacts with Huji leaders who are accused in those cases. "In those meetings they had elaborate discussions on almost all deadly grenade and bomb attacks," reads the summery of the statements prepared by a law enforcement agency based on interrogations of the two militants. The attacks include planting of a bomb at Kotalipara to assassinate Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, attack on Udichi function in Jessore, attack on CPB rally at Paltan, Ramna Batamul attack and the attack on former British high commissioner Anwar Choudhury in Sylhet. Obaidullah has also disclosed that Mufti Hannan used to smuggle in grenades and other explosives from India and Indian national Abdul Baki aided him from India. During interrogation by detectives and Task Force for Interrogation (TFI), Obaidullah admitted that he had close relations with the accused in August 21, 2004 grenade attack case including Huji leaders Mufti Abdur Rouf, Maulana Abu Taher, twin brothers Morsalin and Mottakin, Abdul Hye, Abu Zihad, Abu Tareq and Maulana Yahia. Detained Huji leaders Mufti Hannan, Maulana Abu Sayeed and Mufti Abdur Rouf are already charge sheeted accused in a number of deadly grenade attack cases including August 21, 2004 and Ramna Batamul, 2001. The two militants also said during interrogation that Mufti Hannan led the attack on the AL rally on August 21 and the grenade attack on the then British High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury on May 21 in 2004. Obaidullah said he first visited Bangladesh in 1989 to attend the Biswa Ijtema and visited different Qawmi Madrasas in Chittagong where Huji had a stronghold and even training camps. He also admitted that Mufti Hannan assisted him in getting a fake Bangladesh passport for a Pakistan national and Lashkar-e-Taiba organiser in Bangladesh Khurram alias Khyyam alias Abdullah. Both the Indian militant leaders, who sneaked into Bangladesh in 1995 and had been staying in Bangladesh in the guise of Bangladesh citizens, also admitted that top Huji leaders had visited their safe house in Habiganj several times.

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Bangladesh

Detained Lashkar man was new chief

2009-10-02

[Bangla Daily Star] Detained Lashkar-e-Taiba leader Indian national Emadullah alias Mahbub alias Mamun had been overseeing trespassing of militants into Bangladesh and shipment of explosives. Emadullah who was arrested from the capital on Wednesday night uses at least nine pseudonyms to escape law enforcers' dragnet, Detective Branch (DB) of police at a press conference at its office yesterday said. A case has been filed against him under the passport act. He will be produced before the court today seeking a 10-day remand. DB police said Emadullah became the Bangladesh chapter chief of Pakistan-based militant organisations Lashkar-e-Taiba and Harkatul Zihadia Islamia Azadia and Indian militant outfit Asif Reza Commando Force after the arrest of top two Taiba leaders and Indian nationals--Mufti Obaidullah alias Zafar and Maulana Monsur alias Habibullah in July from the capital. All three? Between three organizations and nine false identities, he must have felt like one of those shattered personalities in the middle of a hurricane. Addressing the press conference, Deputy Commissioner Monirul Islam of DB said Emadullah admitted that after the arrest of the top two leaders, their networks have been dismantled. To escape arrest, the Indian militants who are still hiding in Bangladesh have stopped contact with their fellows abroad, he said. Monirul said, "We think the detained three militants were planning to carry out massive subversive activities either in India or Bangladesh." They had a close link with Mufti Hannan-led Harkatul Jihad Al Islami>Harkatul Jihad Al Islami, he added. A nephew of Monsur, Emadullah is a resident of Padmapukur village under Bagda Police Station of Uttar Chobbish Pargana district of West Bengal in India. Talking to reporters at the DB office, Emadullah said he first entered Bangladesh in April 2005 and after staying here for 22 days he went to Pakistan where he took a month-long training on AK-47 rifle, machine gun, rocket launcher, sniper gun and explosives, including hand grenade. Pakistan national and Taiba leader Khurram Khyyum alias Abdullah had arranged a passport for him and the training in Pakistan. In his passport, he was named as Ripon Mian, a permanent resident of Pabna district. Emadullah said when he reached the Zia International Airport from Pakistan, Abdullah took away his passport. He also said after he alighted from a PIA flight at Karachi airport, one Mehabub received him and took straight to a rest house. From there he along with four other Indian militants was taken to the training camp at hilly Beluchistan. After the training Emadullah returned to India through Bangladesh and started working for his organisation. Law enforcers of India arrested him as militant Mehabub who was earlier arrested along with some explosives had told them that Emadullah was arranging his flight to Bangladesh. He later escaped from police custody and again entered Bangladesh in 2006. After staying several months in Jessore, he came to Tongi of Gazipur and took a job at Dhaka Tobacco Industries. Emadullah said he used to get Tk 4,000 to Tk 5,000 from Abdullah who was sending the money from Pakistan through Western Union Money Transfer for meeting his personal expenditures. He also said Abdullah has stopped sending the money recently.

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Bangladesh

Grenade suppliers gone missing

2009-08-04

[Bangla Daily Star] A Dhaka court yesterday ordered further investigation into the August 21, 2004 grenade attack on an Awami League rally, stating that the investigation conducted earlier could not identify the collectors and suppliers of grenades used in the attack. The court ordered the inspector general of police to conduct the investigation and submit the report to the court within two months. The order came after a state lawyer, seeking further investigation into the two cases filed in connection with the attack on the rally on Bangabandhu Avenue, submitted two petitions before the court. Awami League President Sheikh Hasina narrowly escaped the attack but 23 of her party leaders and workers were killed and over 300 were maimed. The lawyer in the petitions, submitted on June 25, said influential people who had supplied the grenades are still untraced. After hearing the petitions on three days, Judge Masdar Hossain of the Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 passed the orders. During the rule of four-party government, the investigation officers misdirected the probe by detaining one Juj Miah and forcing him to give false confessional statement, the judge said. It was not possible for them, who were earlier arrested in this connection and had given confessional statements, to have had carried out the attack since they could not give any details on the attack, he said. A total of 61 prosecution witnesses had earlier given their statements but they did not mention who were the planners and patrons. So the real culprits are still at large, the judge said. The judge further said that the prosecution only to find out the fact filed the petitions. So the order for further investigation was given to establish justice for both parties, the judge added. Defence lawyers for detained accused Pintu opposed the petitions saying the prosecution had filed those only to implicate several other BNP leaders and activists. After the order, a defence lawyer told reporters, "The unprecedented order was issued ignoring our arguments." Of the 22 accused in the cases, 14 are now behind bars, including Pintu, Hannan and his brother Mohibullah, Moulana Abu Sayeed, Moulana Abu Taher, Mufti Moinuddin Sheikh alias Abu Zandal. The eight absconding accused are Pintu's brothers Tajuddin and Moulana Liton, Anisul Mursalin and his brother Mahibul Muttakin, Iqbal, Moulana Abu Bakar alias Selim Howlader, Jahangir Alam Badar and Khalilur Rahman. The Criminal Investigation Department, which had misdirected the investigation during the reign of BNP-Jamaat-led four-party alliance government, finally pressed charges in June last year accusing 21 members of Harkatul Jihad Al Islami (Huji) including its top leader Mufti Abdul Hannan and BNP leader and former deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu. In the charge sheet, the CID only mentioned Tajuddin, brother of Pintu, as the supplier of the grenades. The CID investigators could not find out who gave him the grenades and how. Meanwhile, Indian national Moulana Mansur Ali, an organiser of Kashmir-based militant outfit Asif Reza Commando Force, disclosed to investigators that one of its leaders from India had given the grenades to Tajuddin in person, said officials of Detective Branch of police.

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Bangladesh

Faisal finally shown held

2009-04-07

Follow-up on the Green Crescent story a little while back. Sounds like the RAB is rolling up the network and pinched Faisal a few days back. That they're announcing it now means the RAB has squeezed him dry. Expect some quiet crossfires in the near future. [Bangla Daily Star] The Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) finally declared British citizen Faisal Mostafa, the main patron of Green Crescent Madrasa in Bhola, arrested yesterday after 10 days of mystery about his whereabouts. The Rab claims the 42-year-old chemistry graduate was arrested along with his close associate Md Saifuddin Badal in the early hours yesterday in Bhogra on Pubail bypass road in Gazipur. Additional Director General of Rab Col Rezanur Rahman Khan in a press briefing yesterday afternoon said no charges have been brought against Faisal and Badal. "Md Russell Howladar, who was arrested at Green Crescent Madrasa on March 24, gave the names of Faisal as the owner of the madrasa and Badal as Faisal's close associate," Col Rezanur said. "It was Faisal! He kidnapped the Lindbergh baby! Honest! Now put those down!" The elite force on March 24 unearthed a mini ammunition factory with huge arms and materials for assembling bullets in Ramkeshar village in Borhanuddin, Bhola. During that drive, Rab arrested three including Russell. The names of Faisal and Badal also popped up in a simultaneous police investigation in Bhola. But the cases filed by the police against the madrasa did not include Faisal as an accused or perpetrator. Rab-8 and the intelligence wing of Rab jointly conducted an operation and arrested the two at 4:00am yesterday. However, the media on March 26 reported that Faisal was arrested in Dhaka the previous day. Twice cleared as a terror suspect in 1996 and 2002 in British courts but given 18 months imprisonment for possessing illegal firearm in the UK, Faisal's arrest has drawn focus of the British media. And that's as good as a death sentence in Bang-land ... The media also questioned the weak monitoring system of the British Charity Commission that channelises taxpayers' money to various NGOs, some of which landed in funding terrorist activities through Green Crescent. Faisal's father in Manchester in the UK and father-in-law in Dhaka repeatedly claimed to The Daily Star that he has been arrested, but the law-enforcement agencies trashed their claim. Col Rezanur yesterday denied that claim once again. "He will be sent to Borhanuddin police in Bhola for the next course of action," he said. "If the legal process allows we'll take them for questioning," he added. Otherwise they'll just him in some upazaila at 4 am ... Prior to this briefing, Faisal and Badal in handcuffs were brought before journalists and photographers were allowed to take their pictures. Wearing a full shirt, Faisal had salt and pepper beard and unkempt hair. On how the arms and ammunition landed in Faisal's well-protected madrasa, Rezanur said, "This is still under investigation." A citizen of Britain based in Manchester, Bangladesh-born Faisal registered an NGO -- Green Crescent -- in Doulatkhan in Bhola in 1999. He had a registered charity in the UK under the same name. He expanded the NGO to Borhanuddin without taking permission from the Department of Social Service. The NGO has a nine-member committee, in which he is the vice-president. According to his family, Faisal travels to Bangladesh at least once a year. This time he came to Bangladesh in March and just left Bhola to go to Chittagong when Rab unearthed his ammo den. Rab sources say the ammo den surely indicates the madrasa has links with militants. But they are not sure if it was Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh, Harkatul Jihad Al Islami or some other group.

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Bangladesh

HUJI hearing adjourned until April 7

2009-04-03

[Bangla Daily Star] A Dhaka court adjourned the hearing of the August 21 grenade attack case till April 7, as 14 Harkatul Jihad Al Islami (Huji) men including its chief Mufti Abdul Hannan were not produced before it yesterday. Judge Mohammad Masdar Hossain of the Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 passed the order after prosecution lawyers told the court about non-production of the accused. Nevertheless, the lawyers did not mention any reason behind it. The grenade attack was carried out on an Awami League (AL) rally on Bangabandhu Avenue on August 21, 2004. In the attack, 23 people including Ivy Rahman, wife of President Zillur Rahman, were killed and a large number of people were injured. Meanwhile, 23 prosecution witnesses had given their statements before the court and they were cross-examined by defence lawyers. The prime accused of this case, former deputy minister and BNP leader Abdus Salam Pintu, Mufti Hannan and 12 others, are now in jail custody. Eight others, including Pintu's younger brother Maulana Tajuddin have been absconding since the cases were filed. On June 11 last year, Criminal Investigation Department (CID) pressed charges against Pintu, Hannan and 20 others for carrying out the grenade attacks on the rally.

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Bangladesh

Mufti Hannan, 13 other Huji men charged

2008-12-01

Over seven and a half years after the Ramna Batamul blast, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) yesterday pressed charges against 14 operatives of banned Islamist outfit Harkatul Jihad Al Islami (Huji) in two cases filed for the carnage. CID Inspector Abu Hena Mohammad Yusuf, investigation officer (IO) in both cases, submitted the charge sheets before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court in Dhaka. The bloodbath that took place during Pahela Baishakh celebrations on April 14, 2001 left 10 people dead and scores injured. Of the cases filed with Ramna Police Station, one was for murder and the other for possession and use of explosive substances. At a press briefing following the submission of charge sheets, CID chief Additional Inspector General Mohammad Javed Patwari said some 22 Huji members were directly involved in the blast. But charges have been pressed against 14 as addresses of the remaining eight were not found. A supplementary charge sheet, he added, would be submitted against the eight after getting their full addresses. The charge-sheeted accused are Mufti Abdul Hannan Munshi alias Abul Kalam, Arif Hasan Suman alias Abdur Razzak, Moulana Akbar Hossain alias Helaluddin, Shahadat Ullah alias Jewel, Moulana Abu Taher, Moulana Abdur Rauf, Moulana Mohammad Tajuddin, Moulana Abdul Hannan Sabbir, Moulana Shawkat Osman alias Sheikh Farid, Hafez Jahangir Alam Badar, Moulana Abu Bakar alias Selim Hawlader, Mufti Shafiqur Rahman, Moulana Yahiya and Mufti Abdul Hye. Of them, Hannan, Suman, Akbar, Jewel, Abu Taher and Rauf are behind bars and the others are still at large. CID sources said the six Huji detainees stand accused in some other blast cases as well. Akbar, Mufti Hannan and Jewel have confessed to a court their involvement in the attacks including the August 21 grenade blasts on an Awami League rally. The additional inspector general said the Huji members had planned the attack at their headquarters and Saat Gambuz Mosque, both located in the city's Mohammadpur area. Suman, Jewel, Johnny and Sujan carried the bombs to Ramna Park that day. Posing as decorators, they entered through the gate adjacent to the National Tennis Complex at around 4:00am. Johnny detonated the bomb by remote control. The CID chief said Ramna Batamul, where people pour in to celebrate the Bengali New Year, had been chosen as the target because the Huji considers Pahela Boishakh revels anti-Islamic. The bombs were supplied by Moulana Tajuddin. Former deputy minister and BNP leader Abdus Salam Pintu's younger brother, he also supplied grenades for the August 21 grenade attack.

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Bangladesh

Huji leaders float party with govt nod

2008-09-29

Leaders of the banned Islamist outfit Harkatul Jihad Al Islami>Harkatul Jihad Al Islami (HuJi) Bangladesh have floated Islamic Democratic Party (IDP) with permission from the government. Ah, the political wing of the party. Mostly Soviet-Afghan War veterans, they claim they formed a 15-member convening committee in May as the caretaker administration gave them the go-ahead after a probe found nothing that could link them to any subversive campaign. Kazi Azizul Huq, an adviser of the newborn organisation, told The Daily Star, "The intelligence agencies gathered that we have no relations to any terrorist networks. "The government however set some conditions. Those include ones that say the party must run as per the country's constitution, and not resort to violence to implement Shariah law." Last Friday, IDP held an Iftar party at the city's Diploma Engineers Institution. It was attended by party leaders and guests including Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, editor of weekly Blitz and a campaigner for Israel, Amar Desh Assistant Editor and Human Rights Forum General Secretary Sanjeeb Choudhury, PK Barua of Bouddha Kristi Prochar Sangha and Chitta Francis, a representative of Christian community. Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Naim Ahmed told The Daily Star that they allowed IDP to arrange the function as it was a religious one. Replying to a query, he said they will definitely go for a closer examination before giving the organisation permission to arrange any political programme. Sheikh Abdus Salam heads the convening committee. It was under his leadership that a group of Afghan War veterans launched HuJi at a press conference at the National Press Club on April 30, 1992. Sources close to IDP said the outfit's ultimate objective is to establish Shariah law in the country. Azizul Huq, on the other hand, said, "Our goal is to run the country as per the Charter of Medina that gives equal rights to all citizens irrespective of religion and ethnicity." He said they want to introduce Shariah (the body of Islamic religious law) only for the Muslims. Other religious and ethnic minorities may follow the existing law of the land and norms of their communities. "We don't want to impose anything on anyone. We'll put the Islamic laws into practice only if the people grant us an electoral mandate to amend the constitution," Azizul continued. "Even those of Muslims who won't want to follow Shariah will have the freedom to follow the existing law." He said the government had suggested they [IDP] take measures to convince the international community that their move to launch the outfit had no relations with extremism. The suggestion came in view of the fact persons behind the new party had involvement with HuJi, an outfit that was banned by the government for terrorism in October 2005. Azizul said Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury and Dr Richard L Benkin, an American citizen, helped in efforts to portray IDP in a positive light across the globe especially in the developed countries. In an e-mail to this correspondent, Dr Benkin confirmed the statement. He said, "Mr. Huq is correct. Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury and I continuously try to bridge the gulf between religious communities throughout the world and always look for opportunities to promote a positive image of Bangladesh worldwide. "Mr. Huq and I met for hours one day in Dhaka many months ago and recognised our common belief in God and faith. We also..... 'agreed to disagree' in the spirit of interfaith understanding and democracy. "The newly formed Islamic Democratic Party opens the door for Muslims to separate themselves before the entire world from radicals and terrorists while at the same time affirming their strength in the Muslim [Islam] faith." Shoaib, who was arrested at Zia International Airport in November, 2003 and charged with sedition in January, 2004, told The Daily Star, "The government gave permission to launch Islamic Democratic Party and host the Iftar party under the state of emergency. It's a green signal, and it allowed IDP to shed the names of HuJi and Islamic Gono Andolon."

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