Mojaheed led Al Badr in killing intellectuals: Shahriar Kabir

Sunday, August 26, 2012 Al Badr led by Jamaat leader Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed had killed hundreds of intellectuals, journalists, teachers and other professionals between November 15 and December 15 in 1971.
Writer and journalist Shahriar Kabir told this to the International Crimes Tribunal-2 on Sunday while giving deposition against detained Jamaat Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed.
A leading researcher on war crimes, also the first prosecution witness against the Jamaat leader, gave his deposition from 10:51am to 1:30pm in presence of war crimes suspect Mojaheed.
Al Badr was formed with the leaders of Jamaat's student wing Islami Chhatra Sangha (ICS), he said.
Mojaheed, 64, was indicted with seven charges, including murder, torture, and imprisonment of people, genocide, and hatching a conspiracy to kill intellectuals during the Liberation War.
The writer said Mojaheed and Jamaat chief Motiur Rahman Nizami were the leaders of Al Badr during the Liberation War in 1971 and they were involved in the killing of intellectuals in a planned way.
Defence counsel will cross-examine Shahriar on August 30.
He was arrested on July 29 in 2010.
The tribunal-1 had rejected Mojaheed's bail petition twice and after his case was transferred to the tribunal-2, it rejected his bail prayer on August 7.
Mojaheed is among the 10 BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami leaders facing war crimes charges before the tribunals

Charges against Fakhrul, 28 others accepted

Sunday, August 26, 2012
A Dhaka court on Sunday took into cognisance the charges against BNP acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and 28 others in connection with a blast case.
The court fixed September 18 for hearing on charge framing against the accused.
Judge Mohammad Zahurul Haque of the Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court passed the order after an hour-long hearing from the prosecution and the defence on the issue.
Before passing the order, the court also granted permanent bail to Fakhrul and 13 other accused in the case.
Shahbagh police filed the case against the accused in connection with the bomb explosions inside the Secretariat during hartal hours on April 29.
Detectives on May 31 charged the 29 accused with blasting the bombs.

Nizami 'led Al Badr during war'

Dhaka, Aug 26  The first prosecution witness against Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami on Sunday said he had led the Al Badr vigilante militia during the 1971 Liberation War.
Himself a former member of Jamaat's student wing Islami Chhatra Sangha, Misbahur Rahman Chowdhury, currently heading a faction of Islami Oikkya Jote, told the first war crimes tribunal of Bangladesh that Al Badr was set up with Jamaat student cadres.
The vigilante groups like Al Badr, Razakar and Al Shams are said to have been widely responsible for war crimes during the Liberation War.
The 57-year old witness said Al Badr was not like other anti-liberation militia groups. "The members were trained by the Pakistani Army and they were, in a way, above the other groups."
The International Crimes Tribunal-1, set up to try crimes against humanity during the nine-month War of Independence, indicted Nizami on May 28 for 16 war crimes.
The witness said the Jamaat chief's current number two, the party's Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujaheed, was also his number two during the War in Jamaat's student wing and also within Al Badr.
Misbahur Rahman also placed Jamaat guru Ghulam Azam, also a former party chief (during 1971), at the court of King Faisal of Saudi Arabia after the Liberation War where the witness had gone to visit the Saudi King as a young leader of a Muslim students' organisation.
"I saw that Ghulam Azam and his brother Moazzem were already there and the professor (Ghulam Azam) was telling the king that freedom fighters had destroyed mosques."
He said he heard the Jamaat guru tell the Saudi king that madrasas had been closed and Qurans had become scarce and asked for funds for rehabilitation and reconstruction.
"Afterwards, I protested what Ghulam Azam had stated pointing out to the king that most of the freedom fighters were Muslims and thus would not have damaged or destroyed mosques."
Misbahur Rahman Chowdhury told the court that his father had whisked him out of his native Moulvibazar where a local Sangha leader urged him to join the Al Badr.
The witness was then sent off to London, England. "It was very risky at that time to denounce or quiet the Chhatra Sangha."
However, the witness had to return to Bangladesh within two months as his mother was sick while the war still raged on. He again went to the Great Britain after the war and studied at a college in Wales where he founded a Muslim students' organisation.
Earlier the first war crimes tribunal rejected a bail petition for acting Jamaat Secretary General A T M Azharul Islam saying that it had previously rejected other bail applicants whose health condition was 'far worse' than that of the instant applicant.
The tribunal, however, directed the jail doctor to perform an MRI and a CT scan as recommended earlier and make sure that all medical treatment is accorded to Azharul Islam. The court directed that if needed Azharul Islam be taken to the medical university hospital, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Medical University.
At the second tribunal, Shahriar Kabir, a long time activist calling for the trial of suspected war criminals, testified as the first prosecution witness against Jamaat Secretary General Mujaheed.

Neil Armstrong, first man on moon, dies

Southern California, Aug 25 (bdnews24.com/Reuters): Former U.S. astronaut, Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the moon, has died at the age of 82, his family said on Saturday.
Armstrong underwent a heart-bypass surgery earlier this month, just two days after his birthday on August 5, to relieve blocked coronary arteries.
As commander of the Apollo 11 mission, Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the moon on July 20, 1969. As he stepped on the dusty surface, Armstrong said: "That's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind."
Those words endure as one of the best known quotes in the English language.
Neil Alden Armstrong was 38 years old at the time and even though he had fulfilled one of mankind's quests that had loomed for centuries and placed him at the pinnacle of human achievement, he did not revel in his accomplishment. He even seemed frustrated by the acclaim it brought.
"I guess we all like to be recognized not for one piece of fireworks but for the ledger of our daily work," Armstrong said in an interview on CBS's "60 Minutes" program in 2005.
He once was asked how he felt knowing his footprints would likely stay on the moon's surface for thousands of years. "I kind of hope that somebody goes up there one of these days and cleans them up," he said.
A VERY PRIVATE MAN
James Hansen, author of "First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong," told CBS: "All of the attention that ... the public put on stepping down that ladder onto the surface itself, Neil never could really understand why there was so much focus on that."
The Apollo 11 moon mission turned out to be Armstrong's last space flight. The next year he was appointed to a desk job, being named NASA's deputy associate administrator for aeronautics in the office of advanced research and technology.
Armstrong's post-NASA life was a very private one. He took no major role in ceremonies marking the 25th anniversary of the moon landing. "He's a recluse's recluse," said Dave Garrett, a former NASA spokesman.
"Howard Hughes had nothing on him," he said, speaking of the reclusive aviator.
Hansen said stories of Armstrong dreaming of space exploration as a boy were apocryphal, although he was long dedicated to flight. "His life was about flying. His life was about piloting," Hansen said.
He left NASA a year after Apollo 11 to become a professor of engineering at the University of Cincinnati.
The former astronaut lived in the Cincinnati area with his wife, Carol.
"We are heartbroken to share the news that Neil Armstrong has passed away following complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures," the family said in a statement. "Neil was our loving husband, father, grandfather, brother and friend.

Allow Fakhrul to go abroad: HC

Mirza Fakhrul Islam AlamgirStar Online Report

The High Court (HC) on Sunday directed the government not to obstruct BNP acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir from going abroad.
The HC also issued a rule upon the government to explain in four weeks why its decision to bar the petitioner from going abroad should not be declared illegal.
An HC vacation bench came up with the order and rule following a writ petition filed by Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.
Fakhrul filed the petition in the morning saying that the government has reportedly restricted 78 opposition leaders including him from going abroad.
In the petition, he prayed to the court to direct the government not to create any obstacle on his going abroad and returning to the country.
The BNP leader said he is due to start for the USA on August 29 to join a conference there.
The vacation bench comprising Justice Quamrul Islam Siddiqui and Justice Md Ashraful Kamal passed the order and rule.
The home secretary, inspector general of police (IGP), deputy inspector general of Police Headquarters, deputy commissioner of Dhaka and officer-in-charge of immigration have been made respondent to the rule.

ATM Azharul denied bail

In the August 22 photo, police arrest Jamaat acting Secretary General ATM Azharul Islam at his Moghbazar residence in the capital hours after ICT-1 issued an arrest warrant against him. Star Online Report

International Crimes Tribunal-1 on Sunday rejected the bail petition of war crimes suspect Jamaat-e-Islami acting Secretary General ATM Azharul Islam.
The tribunal also asked the prosecution to submit progress report by October 14 of the investigation into Azharul's war crimes allegation committed during the country's Liberation War in 1971.
The Jamaat leader was sent to Dhaka Central Jail on Thursday, a day after his arrest.
The three-member tribunal headed by Justice Md Nizamul Huq fixed Sunday for taking decision whether it would grant bail to the detained Jamaat leader.
Azharul on Thursday filed the bail petition before the court.
Azhar, who hails from Badarganj of Rangpur, was arrested at his Moghbazar home just over two hours after the tribunal issued an arrest warrant against him on Wednesday.
In response to a prosecution petition, the tribunal issued the arrest warrant and directed police to produce the Jamaat leader before the tribunal within 24 hours of his arrest.
It is alleged that the Jamaat leader had direct involvement in the killing of 1,200 unarmed Bangalees in Badarganj of Rangpur on a single day during the Liberation War.
Investigations against Azhar began on April 15 this year.

Dr Yunus criticised for putting int'l pressure on country

Saturday, August 25, 2012 Expressing concern over the statement of Dr Muhammad Yunus, eminent citizens of the country said after losing in the legal battle, Dr Muhammad Yunus has been creating pressure on the country through 'super power' and donor agencies exploiting his personal relations with them.
"Such an unexpected pressure is tantamount to interference in the country's internal affairs which is not acceptable to the citizens of an independent state," they said in a joint statement on Saturday.
In their reaction, the distinguished personalities said there is a difference of opinion between the government and Dr Muhammad Yunus over the appointment process of managing director of Grameen Bank (GB).
Bangladesh Bank removed Dr Yunus from the post of managing director of the GB because of expiry of his service age as per the government's service rule, they said and added he (Yunus) lodged a case and the highest court of the country delivered a judgment in favour of the government's decision.
The matter was settled legally through it, they added.
The eminent citizens said anyone could have different opinion about the recent amendment the government has brought to the GB Ordinance for the third time.
"But we're observing that Dr Yunus was putting pressure on the country through 'super power' and different donor agencies," they added.
"We're also observing that Dr Yunus in a statement has been tried to misguide the countrymen, especially the young generation, saying that new government after coming to power would change this ordinance to reinstate Grameen Bank in its previous position," they said.
"But he did not make clear what he wanted to say about the new government, when an elected government is in power," they added.
"We know, Dr Yunus formed a new political party when conspiracy was going on to implement 'Minus Two Formula' after arresting two leaders during the emergency of the last caretaker government," they said in the statement.
They urged the countrymen to remain alert against any sorts of conspiracy that can hinder the country's democracy through undemocratic means.
Signatories to the statement included Prof Zillur Rahman Siddique, Artist Quayum Chowdhury, Sayed Shamsul Haq, Artist Hashem Khan, Shamsuzzaman Khan, Kamal Lohani, Justice (retd) Mejbah Uddin Ahmed, Dhaka University Vice-Chancellor AAMS Arefin Siddique, Jahangirnagar University Vice-Chancellor Prof Anwar Hossain, Prof Nazrul Islam, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Vice- Chancellor Prof Prangopal Dutta, Economist Abul Barakat, Prof Abdul Khalek, Prof Nazrul Islam, Poet Belal Chowdhury, Ramedu Majumder, Mamunur Rashid, Selina Hossain and Poet Nirmalendu Gun.