This is a cross post by Tendence Coatsey
Bangladesh 1971: One of the Worst Genocides of the 20th Century.
The International Crimes Tribunal yesterday issued arrest warrants against already detained fourJamaat-e-Islami leaders on charges of committing genocide and crimes against humanity and peace during the Liberation War.
“Warrants of arrest should be issued against these four people to ensure effective and proper investigation,” Tribunal Chairman Justice Nizamul Huq said allowing the prosecution prayer after submission of Chief Prosecutor Golam Arif Tipu.
The four Jamaat leaders are Ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami, Secretary General Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mojahid and senior assistant secretaries general Muhammad Kamaruzzaman and Abdul Quader Molla.
Jamaat Leaders Arrested for War Crimes
he War Crimes Tribunal has issued arrest warrants for the 4 senior Jamaat leaders already in government custody. The charges: committing genocide and crimes against humanity and peace during the 1971 War of Liberation. The leaders wanted in connection with the crimes: none other than Motiur Rahman Nizami, the Jamaat-e-Islam chief and his Secretary General, Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid and two lower ranking assistant secretaries general. Nizami and Mujahid are widely known to have been leaders in the Al Badr brigade, the militia that has been thought squarely responsible of murder and slaughter of a large number of young and promising intellectuals.
This is a very important move. These are the first charges brought against persons and citizens of Bangladesh for crimes committed under the International Crimes Tribunal Act of 1973. This act brought about a legal procedure to prosecute war criminal but was never used to in court. Decades of maneuvering and indemnity saw to that.
The sitting Awami League government returned to power in 2008 in no small measure from its promise to use just that law to prosecute those held responsible for collaborating with the (West) Pakistani military to commit murder and rape, destroy lives, unleash crashing waves of public and private torment.
More Here.
On the Genocide see here.
In the UK,
The full influence of Jamaati organisations such as the Islamic Foundation UK, East London Mosque, Muslim Aid UK, Dawatul Islam and the UK Islamic Mission is yet to be fully studied but these groups are known to be aggressively pushing Jamaat’s anti-secularism and anti-western literature and ideals – some of the backgrounds of arrested for terrorism ties in the UK such as Mozzam Begg and some of the 7/7 bombers show flirtations with Jamaat politics .
(From Here)
Noteworthy are the political links of these bodies, which are wide-ranging. They include local politicians in East London, and the Respect Party.
We await with interest Islamophobia Watch’s response to these arrests.
