Bangladesh: 12 leaders, activists of Jamaat detained in Feni

Dhaka [Bangladesh], February 1 (ANI): Twelve leaders and activists of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami have been detained by police while holding a meeting in its office in Feni district town on Saturday on charges of planning sabotage, reported Dhaka Tribune.

They were detained along with five crude bombs, various books, leaflets, banners, computers, laptops, and photocopy machines from the office of Feni district Jamaat unit. On secret information, a team of police of Feni Model police station raided the office of the district town and arrested them, said Nizam Uddin, officer-in-charge of the police station, reported Dhaka Tribune.

They were handed over to the court after filing a case upon interrogation, the OC said. The High Court of Bangladesh declared the Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh illegal in August 2013 on the grounds that the party’s charter was against the secular provision of the 1972 constitution. The election commission did not allow the party to contest the tenth general elections held in January 2014.

Earlier, one of the main agendas of the Shahbagh movement was to push through the demand to hang the leaders who were actively involved in war crimes in the 1971 Bangladesh liberation struggle and ban Islamic parties such as the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) who sided with the Pakistani army and opposed the formation of the nation.