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| Bangladesh |
| Bangla Supreme Court upholds death penalty for Khaled Saifullah |
| 2007-02-20 |
| A Bangladesh militant convicted in a deadly bombing campaign faces the death penalty after the Supreme Court rejected a last minute legal bid to have his case reviewed, the prosecution said yesterday. Khaled Saifullah was sentenced last May to hang along with five other militants of the banned Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) militant group. The men are blamed for a string of blasts, which killed at least 28 people, aimed at imposing Islamic law in the Muslim but secular nation. “The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has rejected the review petition against the death sentence of Khaled Saifullah,” said deputy attorney general Helal Uddin Mollah. The execution of the six men had been due to be carried out this month and officials said only a successful plea for clemency to the president would save the men. However, in an unexplained development earlier this month, Saifullah had his sentence stayed temporarily after his lawyers asked for a review of his case. The convicts include JMB leader Shaikh Abdur Rahman and his deputy Siddiqul Islam. Police had accused Saifullah of being a member of the militant group’s decision-making body. Court, police and government buildings were targeted in the attacks which began in August 2005 with more than 400 almost simultaneous blasts across the country. The six men were sentenced to death by a lower court after being found guilty of conspiring to murder the two judges in November 2005. A seventh accused is on the run and was convicted in his absence. The outgoing government led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) pledged to execute the men to show that the country would not allow militants to hijack Islam. The government also conceded that it had underestimated the threat from religious extremists. The president has not yet responded to appeals from or on behalf of all six men and no date has been set for their execution. |
| Posted by:Fred |