Western Resistance

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March 21, 2006

Bangladesh: Islamist Leader's Interrogation Begins

We reported earlier that terror leader Bhangla Bhai, aka Siddiqul Islam (pictured right), was arrested in Muktagacha village, 70 miles north of Dhaka, in Mymensingh district.

The head of his own Islamist terror group, Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (Vigilant Muslim Citizens, Bangladesh), Bangla Bhai was also a senior leader of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). JMB was responsible for a nationwide bombing campaign, which saw more than 450 bombs detonated across 63 of Bangladesh's 64 districts on August 17.

During the operation to secure his capture on March 6, Bangla Bhai detonated a bomb in an apparent suicide attempt, which blew the tin roof off the house he was inside, and gave him splinter injuries, leading to loss of blood. He had several minor operations on injured parts of his hands. face and other pats of his body, while kept under 24-hour guard at a public hospital at Mymensingh, followed by a stay in a paramilitary hospital.

Now, the Daily Star of Bangladesh has reported that, 15 days since his capture, he is now considered well enough to be formally questioned, and his interrogation has begun.

Discharged from the hospital early this morning, he was taken to a District Court in Mymensingh town at 11,45, wearing a bullet-proof vest and helmet. The magistrate gave him a 10 day remand, and he was driven to Dhaka, the capital for interrogation. Upon being led from the court, local lawyers spat at him.

Some of the lawyers' contempt may have stemmed from his conviction inabsentia on February 21 for the killing of two judges in Jhalakathi district on November 14.

It is expected that Bangla Bhai will be made to face his former ally, the official leader of JMB, Abdur Rahman (pictured left), who was arrested from a house in Sylhet town, Sylhet district, in the extreme northeast of the nation on March 2.

So far, Abdur Rahman has revealed under questioning that a suicide bombing in Netrakona district, on December 8 last year, which killed eight people and injured 50 others was an act of retaliation.

The Daily Star reported on Saturday that Rahman had said the bombing happened because two members of JMB had not been released from police custody following their arrests on October 11 and 13. JMB operatives had phoned the police demanding their release, and when this was not agreed, "we decided to teach him a lesson," Rahman claimed.

Currently a roster of charges is mounting up against Bangla Bhai and Abdur Rahman. On Thursday last week, two cases of abduction were filed against Bangla Bhai by the fathers of two youths kidnapped by JMB operatives on May 12 and 13 2004. On the same day, another man, Rafiqul Islam, filed a charge against Bangla Bhai for maiming him on April 15, 2004.

On Friday, 17 March, Bangla Bhai's wife, Fahima Khatun, was remanded on a 12-day cusody warrant, for further interrogation, relating to queries concerning explosives and weapons.

We have discussed the links between JMJB and JMB with political parties involved with the Bangladesh coalition government. On 9 March, Abdur Rahman gave the names of some political leaders who assisted JMB in its efforts to create a sharia state in Bangladesh, but the names and details of these individuals has so far remained undisclosed.

It appears, according to the Daily Star that three of Bangladesh's main banks, the Islami Bank Bangladesh, Rupali Bank and Janata Bank, have allowed transactions to be carried out which led to large amounts of money being withdrawn for use by JMB.

A disturbing catalogue of Bangla Bhai's atrocities, including torture of innocent villagers, can be found here. Four individuals were taken hostage after two JMJB militants were killed by outlaws. These were then beaten, while their cries were transmitted by loudhailers to the other villagers at Naogaon. Two of these were beaten to death. One, named Badshah, was later found, hanging upside down from a tree by a roadside. The other, Khejur, was found cut into four pieces and buried.

Police in Rajshahi, Naogaon, Bogra and Natore districts are currently reinvestigating cases which had previously not been investigated fully, concerning Bangla Bhai's victims. It is known that between April 1 and July 31, 2004, Bangla Bhai's henchmen killed at least 22 people, and tortured many more.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at March 21, 2006 6:45 PM

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