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Thursday, February 28, 2013 At least 41 people were killed as the activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatra Shibir ran riot across the country centring Sayedee's verdict on Thursday. The victims included the cops, activists of Jamaat, Shibir, Juba League and common people.

Thursday, February 28, 2013 Jamaat-e-Islami has called a 48-hour nationwide hartal from Sunday morning protesting death penalty for its leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee. Amiruzzaman, Jamaat ameer of Chittagong (North), confirmed the programme to The Daily Star on Thursday evening.

  A prison van carrying Jamaat leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee enters the tribunal premises Thursday morning amid tight security. A Dhaka tribunal handed death penalty to top Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee for committing crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War. The 73-year-old nayeb-e-ameer or vice president of Jamaat was handed down the penalty for eight wartime criminal offences as his party enforced a hartal threatening anarchy across the country assuming that “an unjust judgement would be awarded to Sayedee”.

1 / 2 Thousands joined the procession of 'Ganajagaran Mancha' to foil the nationwide strike called by the Jamaat-e-Islami on Thursday.   Students of several educational institutions and people from the broad spectrum of society were seen at the procession that began at 10:50am. Banners saying "foil Razakar strike" were seen at the procession and slogans calling for execution for war criminals were being raised. The Jamaat e Islami is identified with the Razakars, an auxiliary support force of the Pakistan army during the 1971 Liberation war.

  The government has blocked social networking website Facebook “to contain negative campaigns” centring the judgement in war crimes trial of top Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee, according to official sources. “The move was taken to stop spread of negative propaganda which may lead to slide in law and order,” a well-placed source with the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission said confirming the action. Facebook was shut down around 11:00am, he said.

  Jamaat-e-Islami has called a countrywide dawn-to-dusk hartal for Thursday, assuming that an "unjust punishment would be awarded" to its leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee. International Crimes Tribunal-1, which is holding the trial of Sayedee for 19 charges of crimes against humanity, will deliver its judgement on Thursday after continuing the trial for 15 months. Jamaat office staff Md Maksudur told The Daily Star that the party acting secretary general Rafiqul Islam Khan through a press release made the announcement of the hartal on Wednesday.

  Hasanul Haque Inu  Information Minister Hasanul Huq Inu has accused some newspapers, including vernacular daily Amar Desh, of inciting religious intolerance by running biased news items on Shahbagh protests. Many of the owners and journalists of the newspapers also instigated the Pakistani occupation forces during the 1971 Liberation War to carry out genocide on the people of Bangladesh, the minister said. He made the accusations at a press briefing at his ministry at Wednesday afternoon.

  Delawar Hossain Sayedee Verdict in a war crimes case filed against Jamaat leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee will be delivered on Thursday. The International Crimes Tribunal-1 fixed the date on Wednesday. "The judgement has already been prepared. Let the matter be fixed for tomorrow for the judgement," ICT-1 Chairman ATM Fazle Kabir told the court. Sayedee is facing 19 charges of crimes against humanity, including looting, killing, arson, rape and religious conversion, which were allegedly committed by him during the Liberation War in 1971. This was the second time the tribunal kept Sayedee's case ready for verdict.

Confirming the existence of some suicide squad members of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in Bangladesh, Home Minister Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir on Wednesday claimed that the law enforcers kept them under watch. “We have already brought the LeT members under our watch based on the information and with the cooperation of people,” the minister said.

  In this February 25 photo, the demonstrators of Shahbagh movement hold a rally at Mirpur-10 in the capital demanding capital punishment to all war criminals and ban on Jamaat-Shibir.  The Shahbagh youths will hold a rally in the capital's commercial hub Motijheel area to press home their demand for the death penalty to war criminals Wednesday afternoon. The rally, which is scheduled to begin at 3:00pm at Motijheel intersection, is expected to turn into a human sea as common people converge in every rally of the youths since the demonstration began on February 5.

  Abdul Latif Nejami Islami Oikya Jote Chairman Abdul Latif Nejami was released hours after he was picked up by detectives in the capital on Tuesday. The Detective Branch of police detained him around 4:30pm from the party office at Noakhali Tower at the city's Paltan and released around 8:15pm, Nejami told The Daily Star. The IOJ is a key partner of an alliance of the eight Islamist parties demanding punishment of the bloggers of Shahbagh movement for what they said “insulting Islam and Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)”.

  Arafat Rahman Koko A court in Singapore directed a local firm Tuesday to return Bangladesh government around Tk 80 million laundered by BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s younger son Arafat Rahman Koko and one of his associates. The laundered money was deposited with a company named Fairhill Consulting Limited. Koko set up the firm in Singapore with the help of a Singaporean citizen, Deputy Attorney General Ekramul Haque Tutul told The Daily Star while informing about the Singapore court decision.

  The Shahbagh youths on Tuesday submit a memorandum to the home minister demanding immediate arrest of Amar Desh acting editor Mahmudur Rahman for instigating violence.  The Shahbagh youths on Tuesday submitted a memorandum to the home minister demanding immediate arrest of Amar Desh acting editor Mahmudur Rahman for instigating violence. The demonstrators paraded city streets from Projonmo Chattar in Shahbagh to Matsya Bhaban where police intercepted the crowd.

  Activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir, hurl homemade bombs at law enforcers in the capital's Tikatuli area Tuesday morning.  Activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir, hurled homemade bombs at law enforcers in the capital's Tikatuli area Tuesday morning, according to police. The law enforcers fired shots from shotguns to scare the Jamaat-Shibir men away, the officer-in-charge (OC) of Wari Police Station told The Daily Star.

  Fakhrul Islam Alamgir  Calling the government irresponsible, BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Tuesday accused it of igniting the ongoing tension. “The responsibility of any government is to pacify tension. But it’s very unfortunate that the current regime is not doing so and provoking tension instead," he said. "The government has to bear the responsibility for it.” The BNP leader alleged that the government was pushing the country towards anarchy in a planned way to divert people’s attention from its failures.

  Mobarak Hossain The prosecution submitted formal war crimes charges against Mobarak Hossain, known as Awami Leaguer, to the International Crimes Tribunal on Monday. Saidur Rahman, prosecutor of the case, told the International Crimes Tribunal-1 that Mobarak has been accused in five types of crimes against humanity that he had committed during the country's Liberation War in 1971.

  In this February 23 photo, carrying reds and greens of varying sizes, thousands gather in a rally on the premises of Rayerbazar Martyred Intellectuals Memorial for a six-point demand including capital punishment to 1971 war criminals. The protesters demanding death penalty to all war criminals will hold a rally in Mirpur of the capital to press home their demand as the demonstration stepped into 21st straight day on Monday. The rally is scheduled to begin at 3:00pm at Section 10 of Mirpur.

  The daylong hartal enforced by eight so-called Islamist parties is progressing peacefully in Manikganj on Monday. The Islamist parties called the hartal protesting killing of 'its activists' during a clash with police on Sunday in the district. Four people were killed and at least 50 injured as pro-hartal activists clashed with police in Singair upazila of Manikganj during the countrywide hartal.

  BNP Acting Secretary General Fakhrul Islam Alamgir Dhaka court on Monday resumed the trial of 46 opposition leaders, including BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, for their alleged involvement in an arson incident after a six-month break. The High Court on August 6 last year stayed proceedings of the case filed with Tejgaon Police Station for torching a bus near the Prime Minister's Office during hartal hours on April 29. Metropolitan Magistrate Harun-or-Rashid began the trial on Monday in presence of Fakhrul and 34 other accused around 10:30am.

50 hurt, 17 with bullets; daylong hartal in Manikganj for Monday protesting the killings Three people were killed and 50 injured when police, attacked by marauding pickets, opened fire in Singair upazila of Manikganj during the countrywide daylong hartal on Sunday. Of the deceased, 5 died in Manikganj while another succumbed to his injuries after being taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital. Locals however claimed that a woman named Helena, who sustained injuries during the clash, succumbed to her injuries on way to a hospital in Dhaka. But, police did not confirm the death, reports our Manikganj correspondent. Meanwhile, Khelafat Majlish, one of the eight so-called Islamist parties who enforced the countrywide daylong shutdown, called a daylong hartal in Manikganj district for Monday to protest the deaths of its 'activists'. Moulana Mohammad Salahuddin, general secretary of the party's district unit, confirmed the hartal news to the correspondent. The d

  Home Minister Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir Home Minister Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir on Sunday warned that the government is taking proper steps to deal with those responsible for creating anarchy in the country. “No individual or organisation can instigate anarchy...those, who are doing so, don’t want peace in the country and the government is taking steps to tackle them,” the minister said. The home minister came up with the remarks after a meeting with visiting Public Order and Citizen Protection Minister of Greece Nikolas Dendias at his secretariat office.

  The government is likely to move an appeal with the Supreme Court this week seeking death penalty for Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdul Quader Mollah in all six cases filed for crimes against humanity. Attorney General Mahbubey Alam on Sunday informed reporters that his office will move an appeal containing three grounds for the death penalty of the Jamaat leader.

  Defying a dawn-to-dusk hartal, protesters bring out a mass procession from Shahbagh intersection demanding death sentence to all war criminals around 9:45am Sunday.  Hundreds of demonstrators at Shahbagh brought out a mass procession Sunday morning chanting revolutionary slogans and taking a vow to resist the countrywide daylong shutdown called by eight Islamist parties.

  The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Sunday announced a 15-man Test squad for the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka. Besides two Tests, the Tigers will play three one-day internationals (ODIs) and a T20 matches during the tour which opens with a three-day game. The Tigers will leave for Colombo on February 28.

2 tempos torched, 26 detained   Pro-hartal activists burn a tyre on Chapainawabganj-Rajshahi highway during a dawn-to-dusk countrywide shutdown at Nayagola in Chapainawabganj town Sunday morning.  The daylong hartal enforced by eight so-called Islamist parties is progressing amid some stray incidents in different districts on Sunday. Meanwhile, Barisal district has been kept out of the purview of today’s hartal due to a three-day yearly mahfil (a religious gathering) of Charmonai Peer that began on Saturday. Two tempos were torched in Chittagong while 26 people were detained in Bogra, Natore, Chandpur, Moulvibazar and Meherpur during the hartal hours.

  Mahmudur Rahman. Mahmudur Rahman, acting editor of Bangla daily Amar Desh, has been sued for instigating militancy and fanaticism and spreading false information to create anarchy across the country. Confirming The Daily Star about filing of the case, Abdul Jalil, officer-in-charge (investigation) at Shahbagh Police Station, said Sub-Inspector Badrul Islam filed the charges. Amar Desh has been publishing reports and hate materials criticising the Shahbagh movement, which entered its 19th day on Saturday, demanding capital punishment to the war criminals.

  Hundreds of people from all walks of life thronged Rayerbazar in the capital on Saturday to hold a rally demanding death penalty to all war criminals.  Slogans demanding death penalty for war criminals reverberated through the capital Saturday afternoon as hundreds of people joined a rally Rayerbazar Baddhabhumi (mass killing ground), expressing solidarity with the ongoing Shahbagh movement. People of all walks sang in unison the national anthem to start the rally around 3:35pm. The Shahbagh protesters, who called for the rally, thronged the venue prior to the beginning of the rally, carrying national flags.

  Main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) on Saturday extended support to Sunday's hartal called by eight so-called Islamist parties. Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed, joint secretary general of the BNP conveyed the party decision to reporters during a press conference at the party’s Naya Paltan central office in the afternoon. Jamaat-e-Islami, BNP's key ally in the BNP-led 18-party opposition alliance, last night gave support to the hartal.

  This February 17 photo shows members of Border Guard Bangladesh patrolling Dhanmondi area in the capital after its deployment.  Members of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) will be deployed in the capital Saturday evening to maintain law and order amid violence and hate campaign by Jamaat-e-Islami and its allies. The paramilitary force will be posted at different points in Dhaka around 8:30pm, Bangla daily Prothom Alo reported quoting sources at the BGB headquarters.

  Law Minister Shafique Ahmed Law Minister Shafique Ahmed on Saturday said Jamaat-e-Islami has no right to do politics in Bangladesh as the party is involved with killing people and damaging public properties. "Jamaat is demeaning Islam by doing such activities," the minister said. He was talking to reporters after attending the annual general meeting of Bangladesh Registration Service Association at the Institute of Diploma Engineers, Bangladesh.

  Activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and its likeminded Islamist organisations vandalise the Gonojagoron Mancha, set up to demand death penalty to war criminals, in front of Chittagong Press Club on Friday. Police filed 16 cases against over 23,000 people including the activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and its allies in connection with Friday's violence in Dhaka and three other districts. Eleven cases were filed in Dhaka, two each in Chittagong and Chandpur and one in Bogra on charges of arson and vandalism and attacking police and preventing them from discharging their duties.

  A screenshot of the website of National e-Content Repository. Hackers have broken into the websites of National e-Content Repository and the government's Access to Information (A2I) programmme. “We love to Break the Security you Create,” the hackers, who identified themselves as members of ‘Muslim Cyber Sh3ll'z’, wrote on the homepage of the e-Content Repository website, http://www.infokosh.bangladesh.gov.bd/.

Shahbagh youths demand arrest of Rajib killers in 7 days, action against Jamaat-backed institutions   Hundreds of thousands of people attend a grand rally at Projonmo Chattar in the capital's Shahbagh on Thursday. Photo: Rashed Shumon Youths from Projonmo Chattar on Thursday demanded that the government raise war crimes charges against Jamaat-e-Islami by March 26. They issued a seven-day ultimatum to the government for arresting the killers of Ahmed Rajib Haider, a blogger and active Shahbagh protester. The demonstrators demanded formation of an independent commission to take legal action against all organisations that patronise Jamaat and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir.

  Bangladesh posted another facile victory in the World Hockey League when they handed Oman an emphatic 4-1 defeat in their third match at Dhyanchand Stadium in New Delhi on Thursday. This is the second triumph of Bangladesh followed up their first remarkable victory over China. Pushkor Khisa Mimo, Sheikh Mohammad Nannu, Rasel Mahmud Jimmy and Mominul Islam Koushik struck one goal each after the barren first half.

  Hundreds of wreaths are placed at Central Shaheed Minar on Thursday to pay rich tribute to language martyrs. Photo: Rashed Shumon  The nation paid glowing homage on Thursday to the Language Movement martyrs who laid down their lives for the mother tongue in 1952. When the clock struck 12:01am Thursday, thousands of barefoot people from all strata of life converged on shaheed minar built across the country breaking the silence of the night.

  At least five people were killed and 25 injured as a passenger bus plunged into a roadside ditch on Barisal-Bhola highway in Sadar upazila of the district Thursday morning. Protesting the accident, locals vandalised two buses including the killer one, reports our Barisal correspondent.

  File photo Bangladesh Coast Guard (east zone) seized 19,810 pieces of yaba tablets from the Bay of Bengal near Taknaf upazila of Cox's Bazar Wednesday night. Acting on a tip-off, a patrol team of coast guard chased a fishing boat from Myanmar as it reached in Naya Khaler Mukh area near Shah Parir Dwip around 11:00 pm, reports our Chittagong correspondent quoting Lt Abdullah Al Mamun, coast guard in-charge of Shah Parir Dwip camp who also led the team.

The government has warned that legal action would be taken against media outlets for rerunning write-ups which demean Islam and Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Urging newspapers and television channels to refrain from such practices, Information Minister Hasanul Haque Inu said on Wednesday that rerunning such materials is more demeaning than running those for the first time,

  The sky over Projonmo Chottor takes hues as protesters release hundreds of balloons in memory of the martyrs of the Liberation War on the eve of Amar Ekhushey. t The canopy overhead turned colourful at Shahbagh Projonmo Chottor as protesters released hundreds of balloons in the air commemorating the martyrs of the Liberation War on the eve of Amar Ekushey. When the clock struck at 4:13pm, the time the Pakistani forces surrendered on December 16 in 1971, the demonstrators released the balloons tying letters in memory of the valiant sons of the land who had laid down their lives for the motherland.

The High Court on Wednesday directed the authorities to stop operation of 22 brickfields and 20 sawmills in the reserve forest area of Lohagara upazila in Chittagong. The HC declared operation of those brick kilns and sawmills illegal and also directed the government to find out if there were any other brick field and sawmills operating illegally in the reserved forest area. The court also observed that the ministries of Environment and Forests and Local Government and Rural Development should be more cautious in issuing licence and clearance certificate for establishing brick field and sawmill.

  Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday urged the people to build a knowledge-based, prosperous, peaceful and secular country, free from war criminals and razakar. She made the appeal while distributing the ‘Ekushey Padak 2013’ among 13 recipients at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the capital. The recipients of Ekushey Padak 2013 are MA Wadud (posthumous), Prof Ajit Kumar Guha (posthumous), Principal M Quamruzzaman (posthumous) and Tofazzal Hossain for Language Movement; Enamul Haque Mostafa Shahid for Liberation War; Nurjahan Murshid (posthumous) and Samson H Chowdhury

  Jamaat-Shibir men block Chapainawabganj-Rajshahi highway by setting fire to tyres at Rajarampur during the daylong hartal in Rajshahi division on Wednesday. The dawn-to-dusk hartal sponsored by Jamaat-e-Islami is progressing in a relaxed way in Rajshahi division on Wednesday. However, the scheduled examination of Secondary School Certificate (SSC) is going on in the division despite the hartal, said Tanvirul Alam, chairman of Rajshahi Education Board.

Ataur Rahman held   Ataur Rahman Jamaat-e-Islami will enforce a dawn-to-dusk hartal in Rajshahi division on Wednesday protesting the arrest of Rajshahi city ameer (president) of the party. Jamaat leaders in Rajshahi announced the shutdown on Tuesday hours after Ataur Rahman was picked up for his alleged involvement in Monday's attack on an Awami League office in the city. The Rapid Action Battalion detained him around 5:15pm on his arrival at the capital's Kalyanpur from Rajshahi by a bus, Lt Col Ziaul Ahsan, director of Rab's intelligence wing, told The Daily Star.

  Awami League Joint General Secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif addresses a public rally at Bangabandhu Avenue in the capital on Tuesday. Photo: Focus Bangla Leaders of the Awami League-led 14-party ruling alliance on Tuesday said time has come to ban the politics of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami.

  Kader Siddiqui A Dhaka court on Tuesday summoned Kader Siddiqui, head of Krishok Sramik Janata League, for terming home minister a razakar. Metropolitan Magistrate Md Saifur Rahman passed the order after a freedom fighter, Ruhul Amin, filed a defamation case against Siddiqui accusing him of terming Home Minister Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir a razakar on February 9.

  Protesters chant slogans at Shahbagh in the capital demanding death penalty for all war criminals. The photo is taken from facebook. They sing inspirational songs with all their hearts, they shout slogans at the top of their voices, they dance to cheer up their comrades, they keep vigil round the clock for days—tireless. They are Shahbagh protesters. Tuesday is fifteenth straight day that the Shahbagh protest entered into. There were good times which inspired the demonstrators as well as bad ones, like the killing of blogger Ahmed Rajib Haidar and death of cartoonist Tariqul Islam Shanto, which cast gloom.

A few hundred people have gathered in Hathazari upazila headquarters in Chittagong to stage a demonstration Tuesday afternoon demanding death penalty to “bloggers who insult Islam”. The crowd, who gathered under the banner of ‘Bangladesh Khelafat Andolon’ termed the bloggers as ‘atheists’ and demanded capital punishment for this, our Chittagong correspondent reported quoting Nurul Hakim, a sub-inspector at Hathazari Police Station.

  Tariqul Islam Shant Cartoonist and blogger Tariqul Islam Shanto was laid to eternal rest at Banani graveyard Tuesday afternoon. Thirty-nine-year-old Shanto, a staunch supporter of the Shahbagh movement, was buried around 2:15pm. Shanto suffered a cardiac arrest while staging demonstrations at Projonmo Chottor Monday afternoon. He was rushed to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital where the doctors declared him dead at 3:45pm.

A section of pro-Awami League lawyers on Tuesday demanded the chief justice takes steps against a High Court judge, who distributed photocopies of news items on the alleged blog write-ups of Ahmed Rajib Haider to other judges. “Justice Mizanur Rahman Bhuiyan have committed gross misconduct showing loyalty to the politics of Jamaat-Shibir by distributing the photocopies of the news items to the other judges,” said Advocate ASM Mezbahuddin, a former president of Supreme Court Bar Association.

  File photo Jasmine Islam, the chairman of Hall-Mark Group, was sent to jail hours after she had surrendered before a Dhaka court on Tuesday in connection with 11 corruption cases. Metropolitan Magistrate Joinab Begum rejected her bail petition around 2:15pm and sent her to jail three and half hours after she had surrendered before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Dhaka. Wife of the company's managing director Tanvir Mahmud, Jasmine surrendered before the court around 10:30am following a trial court order.

Court issues arrest warrant against another accused   Parag Mondol  Three accused in Parag Mondol abduction case were sent to jail two hours after they surrendered before a Dhaka court on Tuesday. The accused are Jubo League leader Aminul Haque alias Jewel Mollah, Alfaz Hossain and Abul Kashem. Senior Judicial Magistrate Kazi Shahidul Islam of the Chief Judicial Magistrates’ Court passed the order after the trio surrendered before the court seeking bail.

Court issues arrest warrant against another accused   Parag Mondol  Three accused in Parag Mondol abduction case were sent to jail two hours after they surrendered before a Dhaka court on Tuesday. The accused are Jubo League leader Aminul Haque alias Jewel Mollah, Alfaz Hossain and Abul Kashem. Senior Judicial Magistrate Kazi Shahidul Islam of the Chief Judicial Magistrates’ Court passed the order after the trio surrendered before the court seeking bail.

  President Zillur Rahman  President Zillur Rahman signed the amended International Crimes Tribunal law on Monday, a day after the parliament passed some major changes in the act. Officials from the Parliament Secretariat went to Bangabhaban for the president’s approval to the law that empowered the tribunals to try various organisations alongside individuals for crimes against humanity committed during the 1971 Liberation War.

  Parag Mondol  The High Court on Monday directed the law enforcers to arrest five accused in Parag Mondol abduction case, who were earlier granted bail by a lower court, within 24 hours. The HC came up with the order a day after Judge Md Abdul Majid of the Dhaka District and Sessions Judge's Court cancelled their bail in the case.