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Khaled Saifullah	Khaled Saifullah	Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh	Bangladesh				20060316	Link
	Khaled Saifullah	Jamaatul Mujaheddin Bangladesh	Bangladesh				20060616	Link

Bangladesh

Jamaat calls hartal in Ctg for tomorrow

2013-02-08

[Bangla Daily Star] The 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 independent branch 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... called a dawn-to-dusk hartal ... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ... in Chittagong division for tomorrow after party leaders were denied permission for holding a rally in the port city yesterday. The protest programme was declared at a press briefing at the office of city unit Islami Chhatra Shibir ... the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh... , student wing of Jamaat, at West Bakalia. Jamaat city unit Ameer Shamsul Islam, MP, made the announcement, according to a blurb. Earlier, the party announced that it would hold a rally in front of Anderkilla Shahi Jaam-e-Mosque yesterday afternoon, protesting killings of four Jamaat activists in Chittagong during its February 5 hartal. But the Chittagong Metropolitan Police had not given them permission, Jamaat city unit Publicity Secretary Mohammad Ullah told The Daily Star. Four people, including two pedestrians, were killed in festivities during the hartal enforced by Jamaat, said police sources, but Jamaat claims all of them belonged to the party. Earlier in the day around 5:45am, a group of 15 to 20 Jamaat-Shibir men stopped a Chittagong-bound pick-up van and a covered van on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway near Banshbaria of Sitakunda upazila and set them ablaze. On information, a unit of fire fighters from Sitakunda rushed to the spot around 7:00am and doused the fire, said Prahlad Singh, a telephone operator at Agrabad Fire Service and Civil Defence Station in the city. No casualty was reported, he said. Meanwhile, ...back at the pool hall, Peoria Slim swung his cue at Hurley's head... police incarcerated Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! a Jamaat leader and 13 activists of Islami Chhatra Shibir in the port city and two upazilas of Chittagong on different charges. Mostafa Noor, Jamaat assistant secretary general of Sitakunda upazila unit and also vice-chairman of the upazila, and a Shibir activist, Shahidul Islam, were arrested at their residences yesterday on charges of arson and creating obstacle in transport movement in the area during February 5 hartal, said Syed Iqbal Ali, assistant superintendent of police (Sitakunda circle). Police arrested five Shibir activists -- Hamed Hasan, Monirul Islam, Galib Hasan, Alamgir Hossain and Mishkat Uddin -- in Bahaddarhat area under Chandgaon Police Station on Wednesday in connection with assaults on police during the hartal, said Rajesh Barua, sub-inspector of Panchlaish Police Station. In another development at Lohagara upazila, police arrested seven activists of Shibir early yesterday and on Wednesday for attacking coppers, said Shahjahan, OC of Lohagara Police Station. The arrestees were identified as Shafiqul Islam, Mostak Ahmed, Delwar Hossain, Ali Ahmed Sawdagar, Khaled Saifullah, Abdul Gafur and Parvez.

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Bangladesh

Another JMB kingpin held

2010-06-07

[Bangla Daily Star] Detective branch (DB) of police arrested another top leader of banned militant outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh from the city's Sabujbagh on Saturday. On secrete information, a DB team arrested Shahed bin Hafiz from a road at Bashabo in the afternoon. Shahed was a member of the JMB's first Majlish-e-Shura (highest decision-making body of the outfit), DB assistant commissioner Rafiqul Islam, who led the drive, told The Daily Star yesterday. "Shahed was appointed as one of the six shura members at a meeting in which executed JMB chief Shaekh Abdur Rahman was appointed as the amir (chief)," said Rafiqul after primary interrogation. Other shura members were Nasrullah of Thakurgaon, Rakib Hossain Russell alias Hafez Mahmood of Jamalpur, Alamgir Hossain Rana, Salahuddin alias Salehin of Mymensingh and Khaled Saifullah. Shahed got introduced with two other executed JMB leaders Ataur Rahman Sunny and Khaled Saifullah while he was studying at Mohammadia Arabia Madrasa at Jatrabari in the city. The two introduced him with Abdur Rahman and in no time Shahed became a trusted member of JMB. Son of Hafizar Rahman of Pakulla village of Sonatola upazila in Bogra, 40-year-old Shahed has a cloth shop, Classic Fashion, at New Market in the town. DB officials said they also collected Shahed's several photographs that show that he is an expert in martial art. Shahed's arrest came after a couple of weeks into the arrest of JMB supremo Moulana Saidur Rahman with his wife and three other JMB leaders from Dhaka and Narayanganj.

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Bangladesh

Tahrir regional commander held in Ctg

2010-05-31

[Bangla Daily Star] Detective Branch (DB) of police arrested a regional commander of banned Islamist outfit Hizb ut-Tahrir in the city's Mohammadpur area on Saturday night. Police also seized 500 anti-government leaflets, a laptop and two mobile phones from his possession. The arrestee was identified as Amiruzzaman Parvez, 31 of Toyubbag Residential area under Panchlaish Police Station. Assistant Commissioner (AC) of DB Jahangir Alam said acting on a tip-off, a team of DB police raided the area at around 10:00pm and arrested Parvez, while his fellow Tahrir-men Sharif, Ershad and Khaled Saifullah managed to escape. The DB official said Parvez was the Chittagong regional commander of the banned unit and led the impromptu procession the organisation brought out at city's Jamal Khan on April 15. However, Parvez claimed he was not the leader of the organisation but he had been supporting it since 2005. He said he knew its regional Coordinator Sheikh Omar Sharif Al Maruf Russel and participated in a number of seminars with him and the April 15th procession. Police unearthed the den of Russel at Khulshi on May 16 and found the traces of his activities. Russel is absconding since then, sources said.

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Bangladesh

JMB chief Saidur held

2010-05-26

[Bangla Daily Star] Police have arrested JMB chief Maulana Saidur Rahman, his wife and three other top leaders of the banned Islamist outfit. They made the arrests in the capital and Narayanganj on Monday and early yesterday. Besides Saidur alias Zafar, the others detained are his third wife Naima Akhter, JMB's military coordinator Amir Hossain alias Sharif and ehsar (full-time) members Nur Hossain alias Sabuj and Abdullah Hel Kafi. During the raids, the cops recovered a huge cache of bomb-making materials, firearms and ammunition and jihadi books. The arrestees except Naima were paraded before the media at the police headquarters yesterday afternoon. There, Inspector General of Police Nur Mohammad said several militant organisations are still operative in the country and they might have an alliance. Replying to a query, he said that since militancy is now a global phenomenon, Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh might have connections with militant groups in neighbouring countries. He also said they are trying to gather if JMB has a suicide squad. The police chief claimed they arrested Saidur, his wife and ehsar member Abdullah Hel Kafi at a house in the city's East Dania on Monday night. A team drawing members from the police headquarters, DMP, SB, Criminal Investigation Department and Detective Branch conducted the swoops, he added. Some sources in law enforcement agencies however say police arrested the JMB chief at least three days before they made the news public yesterday. Additional IGP (admin) NBK Tripura, Special Branch (SB) chief additional IGP Zaved Patwary, additional IGP (rector) Naim Ahmed and Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner AKM Shahidul Hoque were present at the press conference. A handout issued by the police headquarters later said military wing coordinator Amir Hossain alias Sharif and ehsar member Nur Hossain were picked up from Sharif's house at Painadi in Narayanganj early yesterday. A live bomb fitted to a belt usually worn by suicide squad members, several belts, one pistol, two magazines, hand-made bullets and a huge amount of explosives and bomb-making equipment were recovered from Sharif's house and a large stash of leaflets and jihadi books from Saidur's possession. Saidur took over as JMB boss in February 2006, shortly after the arrest of Shaekh Abdur Rahman, the then JMB supremo. The same month that year, Rapid Action Battalion raided his Shibganj house in Sylhet and recovered huge explosives. Saidur had long been on the run. In absentia, he had been sentenced to 14 years in jail in an explosives case. The IGP said JMB's organisational strength had waned much after the execution of Shaekh Abdur Rahman and other top brass. But in recent months, the organisation has been regrouping its cadres. Since the serial blasts across the country in 2005, the law enforcers arrested over 600 JMB leaders and activists. Of them, Shaekh Abdur Rahman, his deputy Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai, Rahman's brother Ataur Rahman Sunny, brother-in-law Abdul Awal, suicide bomber Iftekhar Hasan Mamun and Majlis-e-Shura member Khaled Saifullah were executed on March 29, 2008 for killing two Jhalakathi judges on November 14, 2005.

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Bangladesh

149 out on bail, stay ominous

2009-11-08

[Bangla Daily Star] Law enforcers fear around 150 suspected or convicted militants who are now out of jail may embrace militancy again as there were no motivational programmes in the prisons. Police sources say 149 of those released either on bail or on completion of jail terms were arrested on charge of their link to banned Islamist outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). The sources add some of them were acquitted of the charges as investigators either did not get any evidence of their involvement or failed to prove the charges in the court. Against this backdrop, the police high-ups, Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and other intelligence agencies have instructed their forces to keep constant watch on those people so that they cannot be involved in militancy again. "We've already instructed all our units across the country to keep constant watch on those who were arrested on charge of militancy but were released on bail or acquitted of the charges," says Rab intelligence wing Director Lt Col Ziaul Ahsan. Sources in the Special Branch say they have evidence that some of those people have returned to militant activities again. "We'll arrest them and show them arrested in other cases filed for blasting bombs on August 17, 2005 and at other times," says an SB official wishing anonymity. The sources say the law enforcement and intelligence agencies including Rab have so far arrested around 600 militants, mostly linked to JMB, since the August 17 synchronised bomb attacks across the country. The law enforcers and intelligence officials suspect since the militants are out of prisons without receiving any anti-militancy motivation they may not renounce Islamist extremism. Moreover, the present JMB leadership is also trying to take back their old members. A few members of the outfit have already been assigned to arrange legal assistance for the detained activists for this purpose. On October 26, Rab members arrested JMB ehsar member Akbar alias Al Amin, who is in-charge of Bagerhat district. The elite force claims Al Amin was providing financial support to families of the arrested JMB members and maintaining contacts with the operatives who are behind bars. "In absence of motivational programmes in the jails, the accused or convicted militants may not only return to militancy but also brainwash other inmates and persuade them to join in," observes an intelligence agency official. Stressing the need for motivation, he cites the example of JMB Shura (highest policymaking body) member Khaled Saifullah, who took part in the August 17 blasts 10 days into his release from Dinajpur jail. Deputy Inspector General (prisons) Golam Haider admitted there is no special motivational programme for militants in jail. The DIG however said sometimes they motivate JMB members in jail taking special initiatives. When their officials pass through cells meant for JMB militants, they ask the inmates to shun the path of militancy saying Islam does not permit such subversive activities, he explained.

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Bangladesh

Condemned JMB leaders won't be allowed to talk to media

2007-03-07

Law Adviser Mainul Hosein yesterday said the government will not allow the six condemned JMB militants to speak to the media since there is no instance of allowing any convict to do so. Hunt is on for arresting those who patronised the militants and they will also be brought to book, Mainul told newsmen at the Secretariat. The six top militants might be executed in the first week of April. The six top militants including Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) chief Abdur Rahman and his second-in-command Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai might be executed in the first week of April. Now there is no obstacle to the execution of the militants as the president rejected their mercy petitions on Sunday. According to jail code, if the president rejects clemency prayers by the condemned, the jail authorities are to reschedule the date of execution within 21-28 days from the date of receipt of the copy of his decision. Sources said the jail authorities have beefed up security at different jails where the militants are confined. Of the seven militants sentenced to death for killing two Jhalakathi judges in November 2005, Abdur Rahman, Bangla Bhai and Iftekhar Mamun are in Kashimpur jail in Gazipur, Ataur Rahman Sunny and Abdul Awal in Dhaka Central Jail and Khaled Saifullah in Rangpur jail. Another condemned militant is absconding.

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Bangladesh

Final bell tolls for 6 JMB men

2007-03-06

The president has rejected the mercy petitions of six of the seven Islamist militants condemned to death for killing two Jhalakathi judges in November 2005. With the rejection of the mercy petitions, there will be no obstacle to the executions of the militants. Sources said the president rejected the mercy petitions on Sunday while the relevant documents were sent to the ministry concerned yesterday. Deputy Inspector General (Prisons) Maj Shamsul Haider Siddique told The Daily Star last night that he did not receive any official order regarding rejection of mercy petitions. According to the jail code, if the president rejects clemency prayers by the condemned, the jail authorities are to reschedule the date of execution within 21-28 days from the date of receipt of the copy of his decision. He, however, said the order would reach the jail through the law and home ministries and it may take two to three days. According to the jail code, if the president rejects clemency prayers by the condemned, the jail authorities are to reschedule the date of execution within 21-28 days from the date of receipt of the copy of his decision. The condemned are Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) chief Abdur Rahman, its second-in-command Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai, its Majlish-e-Shura members Ataur Rahman Sunny, Khaled Saifullah and Abdul Awal, suicide bomber Iftekhar Al Mamun and absconding Asadul Islam alias Arif. The captured six are in different jails. In the first week of February the jail authorities sent the mercy petitions of the six to the president through the home ministry. The seven JMB militants were convicted and sentenced to death for killing two judges in Jhalakathi in a suicide bomb attack in November 2005. One of them, Asadul Islam alias Arif, is absconding. Senior assistant judges Jagannath Pandey and Sohel Ahmed were killed in the suicide bomb attack at Purba Chadkati in Jhalakathi town in the wake of a series of bombings carried out by Islamist militants across the country. The High Court (HC) on August 31 last year upheld the trial court verdict handing down death penalties to the seven convicts on May 29. The Supreme Court on November 28 last year rejected the six convicts' petitions seeking permission to appeal against the HC judgement.

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Good morning

2007-02-20

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Bangladesh

Bangla Supreme Court upholds death penalty for Khaled Saifullah

2007-02-20

A Bangladesh militant convicted in a deadly bombing campaign faces the death penalty after the Supreme Court rejected a last minute legal bid to have his case reviewed, the prosecution said yesterday. Khaled Saifullah was sentenced last May to hang along with five other militants of the banned Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) militant group. The men are blamed for a string of blasts, which killed at least 28 people, aimed at imposing Islamic law in the Muslim but secular nation. “The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has rejected the review petition against the death sentence of Khaled Saifullah,” said deputy attorney general Helal Uddin Mollah. The execution of the six men had been due to be carried out this month and officials said only a successful plea for clemency to the president would save the men. However, in an unexplained development earlier this month, Saifullah had his sentence stayed temporarily after his lawyers asked for a review of his case. The convicts include JMB leader Shaikh Abdur Rahman and his deputy Siddiqul Islam. Police had accused Saifullah of being a member of the militant group’s decision-making body. Court, police and government buildings were targeted in the attacks which began in August 2005 with more than 400 almost simultaneous blasts across the country. The six men were sentenced to death by a lower court after being found guilty of conspiring to murder the two judges in November 2005. A seventh accused is on the run and was convicted in his absence. The outgoing government led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) pledged to execute the men to show that the country would not allow militants to hijack Islam. The government also conceded that it had underestimated the threat from religious extremists. The president has not yet responded to appeals from or on behalf of all six men and no date has been set for their execution.

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Bangladesh

Execution of militant Saifullah stayed

2007-02-13

The Supreme Court (SC) yesterday stayed execution of condemned militant Khaled Saifullah until February 19. Chamber judge of the appellate division of the SC Justice Amirul Kabir Chowdhury delivered the order following a review petition of Khaled Saifullah for reconsidering the death sentence against him. The court also directed for hearing the matter at the full bench of the SC. On November 28 last year, the full bench of the SC headed by Chief Justice Syed JR Mudassir Husain rejected the petitions of six of the seven sentenced to death Islamist militants including Saifullah seeking permission to appeal against a High Court (HC) judgement upholding the sentences. The seven had been convicted of killing two Jhalakathi judges. Additional District and Sessions Judge of Jhalakathi Reza Tarik Ahmed sentenced JMB chief Abdur Rahman, its second-in-command Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai, Majlish-e-Shura members Ataur Rahman Sunny, Abdul Awal and Khaled Saifullah, suicide bomber Iftekhar al Mamun, and absconding Asadul Islam alias Arif to death by hanging, and acquitted another one on May 29. The High Court (HC) upheld the trial court's verdict on August 31. After rejection of his appeal, Saifullah filed a review petition in the SC.

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Bangladesh

‘Judgement errors’ in sentencing JMB kingpins to death reported

2007-02-11

An ‘error of judgement’ in sentencing the six militant kingpins to death has been reported and the full hierarchy the Supreme Court judges sit today to hear and mend the mistake. The Supreme Court that dismissed all the six applications for leave to appeal by the condemned JMB kingpins against their death sentences in the Jhalakati judges’ killing case would take up today the judgement for necessary correction, Attorney General’s office sources said. ‘The matter will come up for hearing as first item,’ one source in the AG office said, pleading ignorance about what has actually gone wrong with the judgement delivered on November 28, 2006 and what correction has to be made. A seven-member full court of the Appellate Division had pronounced the verdict dismissing all the petitions for leave to appeal to overturn High Court confirmation of the capital punishment. Meanwhile, Shamsul Islam, counsel for Khaled Saifullah, one of the six condemned JMB militants and a suicide bomber, told the news agency that he had filed a petition for review of the judgement on his client’s death penalty.

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Bangladesh

JMB terrs defiant as mercy pleas to go out real soon now

2007-01-31

The mercy petitions filed by six kingpins of banned Islamist outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh are likely to be sent to the president, Iajuddin Ahmed, on Wednesday or Thursday. Who will think about it for a day or two and then authorize their hanging ... The prison directorate has already submitted the petitions of all six militants to the ministry of home affairs seeking presidential clemency against the death sentences handed to them for killing two judges in Jhalakati. Prison authorities submitted three petitions, one on Thursday, two on Sunday and the rest three on Monday to the home secretary, Abdul Karim. ‘The ministry will send the petitions to the president after scrutiny which may take a couple of days,’ a home ministry official told New Age. Execution of the militants will not be possible on the primary date (February 17) fixed by the prison authorities. ‘Fixing a primary date is a practice,’ said brigadier general Zakir Hasan, inspector general of prison, adding, ‘There is no chance of hanging them on the date fixed primarily. He said another date will be fixed when ‘we will receive the decision of the president on the mercy petitions.’ ‘A fresh 28-day countdown will start from the day the documents are returned to us,’ Zakir said. "We just sorta wing it." According to procedure, the documents, with the president’s decision, will come back to the ministry of home affairs which will send the files to the prison authorities. The chief of the Islamist outfit, Shaikh Abdur Rahman, his second-in-command, Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai, Rahman’s brother and the outfit’s military wing commander Ataur Rahman Sunny, Rahman’s son-in-law Abdul Awal, its Majlis-e-Shura member Khaled Saifullah and suicide squad member Iftekhar Mamun have been sentenced to death for bombing to death two judges in Jhalakati. In their petitions, they did not follow the normal procedure and used jihadi language and spirit. Although their families are desperate to save their lives, the top militants seem somewhat defiant as they have declared in the petitions that on one but Allah can grant mercy. And I wouldn't count on him. I sure hope these boys go the gallows with jihaid words on their lips ...

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