Coup plotters lose appeal against death sentences in 1975 killing of Bangladeshi leader

November 18th, 2009 DHAKA - The Bangladesh government has beefed up security and asked cadres of ruling Awami League not to organise processions as the country awaits the verdict Thursday in the trial of founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's killers. A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court is scheduled to give its ruling Thursday on the appeals filed by five former army officers who were awarded death sentence.

November 18th, 2009 DHAKA - "All I want is justice," Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said Wednesday as the nation, with security at key establishments beefed up, awaited the verdict in the trial of the killers of the country's founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Hasina, the elder daughter of the slain leader who lost all her family members in a military-led coup d'etat on the night of August 14, 1975, is in Rome and photographs showed her wiping her tears as she said she hoped the Supreme Court judgment, due Thursday, would be "fair".

November 17th, 2009 TEHRAN - The Iranian judiciary has issued death sentences against five more dissidents, state media reported. The judiciary announced in a statement that death sentences had been issued against five and prison terms from six months to 15 years against 81 dissidents arrested following the disputed presidential election June 12.

November 15th, 2009 more images more imagesDHAKA - The security at Bangladesh's Supreme Court was beefed up Sunday, ahead of the verdict due Thursday in the trial over the assassination of the country's founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Supreme Court registrar Shawkat Hossain told The Daily Star newspaper that the authorities strengthened the security of the apex court so that no untoward incidents could take place on the court premises.

November 4th, 2009 more images more imagesDHAKA - Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said the Bangladesh government will seek retrial of former army officers responsible for killing four leaders who were part of the country's government-in-exile during the 1971 freedom movement. At a function on their death anniversary Tuesday, Hasina accused opposition leader Khaleda Zia and her husband and slain former president Ziaur Rahman of 'rewarding' the killers.

October 30th, 2009 more images more imagesDHAKA - Bangladesh's Supreme Court should commute the death sentences of four former army officers convicted for killing the country's founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and allow life imprisonment as their appeals have been pending for several years, a defence counsel has pleaded. Counsel Abdullah Al Mamun Thursday cited judgments of the Supreme Courts of Britain and Jamaica commuting death sentences to life in prison due to delay in appeal hearings.

October 27th, 2009 SHILLONG - Tension prevailed in a number of Meghalaya villages on the border with Bangladesh after an Indian woman was raped by five Bangladeshi intruders. Four of the men have been arrested, police said here Tuesday.

October 21st, 2009 China sentences 6 to death in gang crackdownBEIJING — A court in southwest China sentenced six men to death Wednesday for gang-related crimes including blackmail and murder, the first convictions in a monthslong crackdown that has exposed a major city mired in violent organized crime. More than 1,544 suspects have been detained in Chongqing, China's largest municipality, since the gang sweep started in June, with more than a dozen criminal gangs busted.

October 21st, 2009 DHAKA - Two former Bangladesh army officers, convicted of killing the country's founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman over 34 years ago, have sought re-trial by a military court. The killings of then president who was also referred to as Sheikh Mujib, most of his family members and several political associates Aug 16, 1975 were a revolt by army men, not any conspiracy, a lawyer for Bazlul Huda and A.K.M.

October 10th, 2009 TEHRAN/LONDON - Iran's judiciary Saturday confirmed that three death sentences had been handed down to dissidents, even as Amnesty International (AI) warned of the prospect of a wave of death sentences in the Islamic state. The ISNA news agency cited the Iranian judiciary Saturday as confirming press reports that three dissidents had been sentenced to death.

October 5th, 2009 High court won't review death penalty in LouisianaWASHINGTON — The Supreme Court has declined a challenge to the way the death penalty is imposed in Louisiana, rejecting an appeal by a woman convicted for her role in a brutal New Year's Day attack on a retired minister. The justices on Monday passed up an opportunity to examine whether the death sentence in Louisiana is arbitrarily meted out to some defendants, while others in similar circumstances are given life sentences.

October 4th, 2009 DHAKA - Bangladesh Chief Justice M.M. Ruhul Amin Sunday constituted a five-member bench to resume the trial for the assassination of the country's founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family members in a military-led putsch on Aug 15, 1975.

September 10th, 2009 SD prosecutors charge 2 for 1975 AIM slayingSIOUX FALLS, S.D. — State prosecutors say a Canadian man has been charged with murder in the 1975 killing of a fellow American Indian Movement member.

September 8th, 2009 AGARTALA - The Bangladesh government has released six Indians who had accidentally crossed the border along southern Tripura while grazing their cattle 78 days ago on June 21, officials here said Tuesday. "The Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) handed over the six Indians, including two women, to the Border Security Force (BSF) at the Muhurighat checkpost in southern Tripura late Monday," a police spokesperson said.

September 8th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Orissa Tuesday sent back 16 Bangladeshi nationals, who were accused of illegally crossing into Indian territorial waters last year, nearly two months after a court in the state acquitted them, officials said. As many as 17 Bangladeshi nationals - all fishermen - were arrested in October last year by the state police for illegally fishing in the Bay of Bengal, some 35 nautical miles off the Paradip Port in the Jagatsinghpur district, some 100 km from state capital Bhubaneswar.