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November 28, 2005
Bangladesh: New Islamist Threat Against Judges
The Daily Star announced that on Sunday (27 Nov), the Islamist terror group, Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) threatened to kill the Supreme Court's judges.
In a letter to Mahbubey Alam, the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, the JMB said that the SCBA could notsave the judhes, even if they were protected by gunmen. It blamed the Supreme Court for inefficiency and corruption. The letter claimed to have been written by Moulana Ali Azam who said he was the joint secretary of JMB.
The JMB have so far targeted a number of judges and courthouses. The campaign against judges began in earnest on October 3, when courthouses were bombed in Chandpur, Laxmipur and Chittagong, killing two people and wounding 15, including a judge. Since then various threats have been made against courthouses, judges, police stations and jails, as well as minor attacks.
On November 14, two judges were killed by a man who later tried to blow himself up with police who were accompanying him to a hospital inside an ambulance. This attack in Jhalakathi killed two senior assistant judges and injuring four others.
The threat yesterday is the first direct threat made against the Supreme Court. The threatening letter claimed that 75% of High Court judges take bribes, and the assistant judges give 40% of their bribe money to the judges.
""The High Court and Supreme Court do not know what justice is. They just uphold the judgements of the lower courts. So, these judges do not have any right to live," the letter read.
In Khilgaon High School, alarm was created by a fake bomb which was found taped underneath the assistant headmistress' desk, after a visit by a woman in a veil, or nikab. Letters found in the school said a bomb would be set off, which led to the discovery of the item.
The JMB sent a letter to a journalist from the Daily Samakal, another to a special correspondent of the local daily Ajker Barta Mizanul Islam and a third to journalist of newspaper Ajker Paribartan. All three letters threatened their recipients with death. The journalists work in the Barisal district, southwest of Dhaka.
In the southwest of Bangladesh, in Alamdanga, a bomb attack took place which killed one man and injured three more, states Dawn. This attack is not said to be caused by Islamists. Police have blamed Maoist insurgents, who are also in a long-running battle with the government.
On Friday, a college teacher and a computer engineer were among eight suspected JMB activists arrested in Bhola, Tangail and also in Rajshahi, states the Bangladesh Independent. A professor of the department of agriculture at Chharfashion College was apprehended with a man with an honours degree in computer science and four others in the Bhola region. Bomb-making materials were also discovered during the arrests.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at November 28, 2005 5:55 PM
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