DHAKA - Islamic militants in Bangladesh have threatened to kill a judge and members of his family and blow up a court if the government goes ahead with plans to try suspected activists of outlawed Islamic extremist groups, media reports said on Saturday.District Judge Mafizul Islam in the northern town of Pabna received a handwritten death threat from the banned Jamiatul Mujahedin group, the daily Bangladesh Observer said quoting local sources. The militant Islamic group has scores of activists in custody awaiting trial.
| Mostly for being overly pious. |
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 Judge Islam. 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.
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 Jamiatul Mujahedin group.
| There's your inside man. |