Bangladesh Exclusive

Bangladesh Exclusive

There are 2 reports to follow -

1. Bangladesh death sentences given

The 30-year-old case of four murdered Bangladeshi politicians has finally ended with death sentences for three former junior military officers.

A court in Dhaka sentenced the men, all of whom are on the run, for killing the aides of assassinated president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in a prison in 1975.

Twelve senior officers, 11 of whom have already been sentenced to death for killing Rahman, were given life terms.

Five people were acquitted of killing the politicians.

Only three of the 12 officers given life sentences were in the dock, the others are also on the run.

The five acquitted defendants - four politicians and an officer - had been given bail and were in court to hear the verdict.

All the defendants who appeared for the trial had denied all the charges. Police believe most of those who absconded have left the country.

The BBC's Waliur Rahman in Dhaka says the judgement for a case that has gripped the country for decades was delivered amid tight security.

Judge Mohammad Motiur Rahman of the Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Court read out the judgement in a makeshift court compound near the city's central jail after it had been deferred twice last month.

Those given death sentences were Risaldar Mosleh Uddin, Dafadar Marafat Ali Shah and Dafadar Abul Hasem Mridha.

All were junior officers in the army who were dismissed from the service.

They absconded when trial proceedings were ordered in 1996; two decades after the murders took place in Dhaka's central jail.

The Supreme Court is currently reviewing the death sentences handed to the 11 senior officers for assassinating Rahman, the country's first president, who was killed with most of his family members in August 1975.

The sessions court heard that his four aides were then killed when they refused to join the then government of President Mushtaque Ahmed.

Ahmed and a former civil servant were also charged with the killings but both died before legal proceedings began.

The proceedings were only instigated in 1996 after Rahman's daughter, Sheikh Hasina, led her Awami League party to power.

The four murdered politicians - Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmed, Mansur Ali and AHM Qamaruzzman - were all members of the Awami League.

Wednesday's verdict had been scheduled for 7 September but was put back to 21 September because of the illness of the judge.

It was further delayed following a petition by a defence lawyer.

The Awami League has accused the Bangladesh Nationalist Party government of Begum Khaleda Zia of dragging its feet in bringing the perpetrators of the crime to justice.

The families of the murdered men say her government has interfered in the trial process to save some of the accused, which the administration denies.

Correspondents say that the differences of opinion over the murders reflects the contrasting stances of the country's two main political parties towards the trial.

Elements in the BNP complain that other political murders, including that of Ms Zia's husband, then president Ziaur Rahman, were earlier ignored by the authorities.

2. Bangladesh court hands death sentences to three fugitives in killing of four Cabinet ministers

A Bangladesh court on Wednesday sentenced three former army officers to death for murdering four government ministers following a 1975 coup that also led to the assassination of the country's independence leader.

Twenty-one people _ including four former politicians and 17 army officers _ were charged in the Nov. 3, 1975, murders of Cabinet ministers Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmed, M. Mansur Ali, and A.H.M. Qamaruzzman.

On Wednesday, Dhaka's Metropolitan Sessions Court convicted three low-ranking army officers _ Moslehuddin Ahmed, Marfat Ali and Abdul Hashem Mridha _ of the killings, Judge Mohammad Motiur Rahman said.

The three were tried in abstentia and are believed to be living abroad.

The court also sentenced 12 other former army officers to life in prison for their involvement in the murders. Five others were acquitted, including a lawmaker from Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party. One other defendant died abroad.

The four slain politicians served under independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman _ who was assassinated in a military coup in August 1975.

Those responsible for the murders were protected from prosecution for 21 years by an indemnity act. The case was revived in 1996 after Rahman's daughter, Sheikh Hasina, became prime minister and revoked the act, clearing the way for trials to begin in April 2001.

Rahman led Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan following nine months of bloody war in 1971. He was killed during the coup on Aug. 15, 1975, along with 15 other family members, including his wife and three sons.
In 1998, a court sentenced 12 former army officers to death for assassinating Rahman.

BDWN