DHAKA, 9 October 2005 — The banned Jamatul Mujahedeen group has threatened to kill a judge and his family and blow up a court if the government goes ahead with plans to try suspected activists of the extremist groups, reports said yesterday.
District Judge Mafizul Islam in the northern town of Pabna received a handwritten death threat from the group, the daily Bangladesh Observer said quoting local sources.
The militant group has scores of activists in custody awaiting trial.
The government has blamed members of the group and another suspected militant organization Jagrata Muslim Janata for a series of bomb blasts which rocked the capital Dhaka and other regional cities on Aug. 17. Over 300 suspected militants have been arrested since the country launched a drive against extremists.
Dozens of extra policemen and paramilitary border guards have been drafted in to beef up security around district courts and the High Court following the death threat against the judge.
Official sources said the coalition government led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party had drawn up charges of sedition against several detainees who would soon face trial in Pabna and other towns.
Militants have recently attacked courts operating according to secular law which they want to see replaced by courts implementing “Shariah” law.
The Observer also reported that a security officer working at the National Assembly was detained overnight for questioning about his alleged involvement in the August attacks, in which two people were killed and several others critically injured. Abu Taleb, who works in the security department of the assembly, reportedly admitted that he was a member of the Jamatul Mujahedeen group.
