The high court in Dhaka ruled that the Jamaat-e-Islami party is illegal because it is against secularism. The decision, which the JI plans to appeal, would prevent the Islamist party from slating candidates in the general election early next year.
The country’s war crimes tribunal sentenced Jamaat-e-Islami politician Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid to death. Mujahid led a militia responsible for the deaths of intellectuals and other leaders who supported the country’s independence from Pakistan; as many as 3 million people are said to have died during the nine-month war of secession. At least two people […]
The country’s war crimes tribunal sentenced 91-year-old Ghulam Azam, former head of the Jaamat-e-Islami, to life in prison for genocide and crimes against humanity during the 1971 war for independence from Pakistan. In its ruling, the court called Jaamat a “criminal organization” and suggested that “no such anti-liberation people should be allowed to sit at […]
A court sentenced 10 members of the banned Islamist group Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) to death for assisting with a suicide bombing at a lawyers’ association office in Gazipur in 2005 that killed nine people and injured at least 100 more. JMB founder Sheikh Abdur Rahman and five other leaders of the group were hanged […]
Behind the rise of Bangladesh’s Hifazat
The death toll from clashes between rioting Islamist protesters and police around Dhaka has risen to 45, including five policemen. Hundreds of people have been injured during the protests, which began several days ago but are now said to have largely subsided. Security has been beefed up in the capital and around major mosques across […]
As many as 200,000 Islamist protesters blocked roads into the capital of Dhaka, demanding the adoption of a blasphemy law. Clashes between police and rioting protesters killed at least three people and injured 60 more. The protest was organized by the newly-formed radical group Hifazat-e-Islam, which wants the death penalty for anyone who defames Islam. […]
The country’s war crimes tribunal indicted British Muslim leader Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin for crimes against humanity and genocide during the 1971 war with Pakistan. He is alleged to have helped organize the killing of the top intellectuals in Bangladesh. He is an influential figure in British Muslim circles and helped set up the Muslim Council of […]
