Tight security as verdict on Mujib’s killers Thursday
By IANSSunday, November 15, 2009
DHAKA - The security at Bangladesh’s Supreme Court was beefed up Sunday, ahead of the verdict due Thursday in the trial over the assassination of the country’s founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Supreme Court registrar Shawkat Hossain told The Daily Star newspaper that the authorities strengthened the security of the apex court so that no untoward incidents could take place on the court premises.
Rahman’s killing 34 years ago is an emotive issue in Bangladesh. Security threats arose earlier this month after an attempt was made to target one of the prosecution lawyers, Fazle Noor Taposh whose parents were among those killed in the military-led coup of Aug 15, 1975.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, daughter of the slain former president, has called for a ‘vigil’ before and after the verdict is delivered, alleging that “some vested quarters” could cause trouble, media reports said.
The security threat heightened after the arrests of family members of some of the convicts facing re-trial. The government has alleged that they have terror links and plotted the attack on Taposh.
In a trial resumed after a decade, a five-judge bench of the Appellate Division heard arguments, including death sentences awarded earlier against former Bangladesh Army officers who led the coup.
While some of the convicts are in jail and had appealed for re-trial, some others, who received diplomatic assignments from subsequent governments, are abroad.
