Blogger's Murder Rekindles Massive Anti-Islamist Protests

[HuffingtonPost]

* Protesters reverse decision, renew round-the-clock rallies                

* Demonstrators demand death penalty for those convicted for  1971 war crimes                

* Crowds throng square, mourn blogger, call for revenge     (Adds Hasina's comment, blogger's funeral)                

By Anis Ahmed                

DHAKA, Feb 16 (Reuters) - More than 100,000 Bangladeshi  protesters, angered by the killing of one of their leaders,  poured back onto the streets of the capital on Saturday to  demand the death penalty for those found guilty of war crimes in  the 1971 independence conflict.                

The demonstrators, who denounced a life sentence handed down  this month on an Islamist leader involved in the war, reversed a  decision to scale back demonstrations, now in their 12th day.                

Rajib Haider, an architect, was a key figure in organising  the demonstrations and wrote a blog devoted to them under the  pen name Thaba baba. He was attacked outside his home on Friday  night after returning from a 100,000-strong rally in Shahbag  Square.                

On Saturday, an even larger crowd thronged the square to  attend funeral prayers for Haider, many vowing to avenge his  death or breaking down in tears as his coffin passed.                

Haider's family told reporters they believed he was stabbed  to death for standing up to the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami party  and drawing people to the protests. Police said they had  detained five suspects.                

"Haider's death has rekindled our spirits," said Nasiruddin  Yusuf, a film-maker. "It will not go in vain."                

Large protests gripped other cities. Security forces  patrolled streets in much greater numbers than in previous days.                

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visited Haider's home and told  his grieving parents justice would be done.                

"Rajib Haider's killers have no right to do politics," she  said in comments broadcast live on television. She said Jamaat  and its affiliates "do not believe in democracy. They believe in  terrorism. That is what they are proving again."                

The protests were triggered by the life sentence imposed on  Abdul Quader Mollah, assistant secretary-general of Jamaat,  Bangladesh's largest Islamist party. Most Bangladeshis had  expected a death sentence on charges of murder, rape and  torture.                                

PROTESTERS VOW TO REMAIN                

Protest leaders vowed to remain on the street until Mollah,  64, is sentenced to death, along with others convcted of   committing crimes during the war.                

Some say they would accept parliamentary amendments to  provide for stiffer penalties to be issued by the war crimes  tribunal, set up in 2010 by Hasina, daughter of independence  leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.                

"The young generation is shining a light on the spirit of  the liberation war we fought more than 40 years ago," said Dhaka  University professor Abul Barakat, 58. "We couldn't achieve all  the dreams of the war. Now, perhaps no one can stop them."                

In its first verdict last month, the tribunal sentenced a  former Jamaat leader, Abul Kalam Azad, to death. Azad was tried  in absentia as he fled the country last April.                

State minister for law Qamrul Islam, shown on television  addressing a rally near Dhaka, said the disbanding of Jamaat "is  a public demand. It's just a matter of time when Jamaat will be  banned from politics."                

The opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of  Hasina's arch rival, former premier Begum Khaleda Zia, says the  prime minister is using the tribunal as a political weapon.  Hasina denies the accusation.                

Bangladesh became part of Pakistan at the end of British  rule in 1947 but broke away in 1971 after a war between  Bangladeshi nationalists, backed by India, and Pakistani forces.  Three million people died and thousands of women were raped.                

Some factions in what was then East Pakistan opposed the  break with Pakistan. Jamaat denies accusations that it opposed  independence and helped the Pakistani army.     (Reporting by Anis Ahmed and Serajul Quadir; Editing by Ron  Popeski)

Via: HuffingtonPost