DHAKA, 9 November 2004 — Opposition Awami League yesterday announced that it would move the high court to have the ‘real killers’ of Bangladesh’s four national leaders punished as it alleged that the verdict of the jail killing case came at the instance of the law and justice minister.

“Barrister Modud Ahmed played a heinous role in this case making the verdict controversial and giving relief to the conspirators and main accused of the jail killing case,” Awami League General Secretary Abdul Jalil said at a press conference at the Dhanmondi office of his party in Dhaka.

A Dhaka court on Oct. 20 sentenced three to death, awarded life imprisonment to 12 and acquitted five in the long-awaited verdict of the historic Jail Killing Case.

Ruling BNP lawmaker K.M. Obaidur Rahman, Shah Moazzem Hossain, Nurul Islam Manzoor, Taheruddin Thakur and additional secretary to Foreign Ministry Khairuzzaman, who were freed on bail soon after the ruling coalition came to power, were relieved of the charges.

All the convicts are former army personnel. Of the total 21 charge-sheeted accused, three are in custody, five on bail, 12 have been evading arrest, and one died.

While delivering the verdict, Judge Mohammad Motiur Rahman came down heavily on the investigation officer, saying all the killers could not be punished due to the “farcical investigation.”

Awami League Finds New Threats to Hasina’s Life

The opposition Awami League, in an apparent move to step up the campaign for assignment of commandos of Special Security Force (SSF) for security of the party chief, has filed two more general diaries with the Tejgaon and Ramna police stations in Dhaka, saying fresh death threats have been given to Awami League president Hasina Wajed by e-mail.

“One Shahid Ahmet on behalf of the so-called Al-Kaeda group of Bangladesh sent the e-mails to the daily Janakantha and the Daily Star asking Hasina to be ready for death,” AL General Secretary Abdul Jalil who filed the diaries said.

He claimed that the message to the Janakantha had been sent on Oct. 28 and to the Daily Star on Oct. 30.

Earlier, the Awami League on Sept. 18 filed a diary with the Dhanmondi police after “receiving a similar threat by post to her Sudha Sadan residence on Sept. 16”. She was given another threat over phone to her residence on June 5.

Seven Pirates Lynched

Seven pirates were beaten to death and five others of the armed gang left unconscious in mass beating on a shoal of the Jamuna River in Belkuchi sub-district in Sirajganj district yesterday morning.

Police said they recovered four firearms — three shutter-guns and a pipe-gun — along with eight bullets from a trawler the gang attacked in their abortive bid to rob the passengers. The lynched pirates were identified as Lal Chand, 27, Zahurul Islam, 25, Fazal, 26, Raju, 29, Shahidul, 27, Hakim, 23, and Arshad, 26.

Witnesses and police said a gang of 16 swooped on a Sirajganj town-bound passenger trawler sailing from Chowhali when the ferryboat neared Afjalpur char in Belkuchi sub-district at about 7 a.m.

“Hearing a hue and cry, river-patrol police rushed in, chased the robbers and caught 12 of them while they were swimming away, jumping off the trawler into the river,” said a spot account of the holdup.