4 'IS operatives' indicted for plot to topple govt
A Dhaka court yesterday indicted four suspected Islamic State (IS) operatives for conspiring to topple the government through subversive activities and establish a Khilafat state in Bangladesh.
The trial proceedings will begin from February 25.
However, hours after the charge-framing, the first against IS suspects in Bangladesh, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal once again denied organisational existence of the Middle East-based terror group in the country.
The four -- Sakhawatul Kabir, Nazrul Islam, Anwar Hossain alias Baten and Rabiul Islam -- were arrested from the capital's Jatrabari on January 18 and detectives submitted the charge sheet against them on May 25.
When produced before the Fourth Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court of Dhaka yesterday, they claimed innocence and demanded justice.
"But according to the FIR [first information report] and the charge sheet of the case, all the four were IS suspects," Additional Public Prosecutor Saiful Islam Helal told The Daily Star.
In the charge sheet, the arrestees were accused of planning to "destabilise law and order and kill some important individuals" of the country.
It says all the arrestees were actually involved with Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and Kabir was a regional coordinator of the outlawed militant group.
Kabir received militant training in Pakistan and, on return, took over as coordinator of the IS' Bangladesh chapter. Of the others, Nazrul was a financier for militants and Anwar a convict in an explosive case.
The four were inspired by the IS ideologies, Investigation Officer AKM Kamrul Ahsan of the Detective Branch of police said in the charge sheet.
They will be tried under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 2009.
Since September last year, about 15 suspects have been arrested for "having contacts or trying to establish contacts" with the IS, also known as ISIS or ISIL, according to police.
In July, charges were pressed against three of the detainees -- Samiun Rahman alias Ibn Hamdan, a British citizen of Bangladesh origin who allegedly fought in Syria; and his two recruits Asif Adnan Shuvo and Fazle Elahi Tanzil.
Apart from recruiting mujahideens and sending them to Syria, Samiun's ultimate goal was to carry out subversive activities in South Asia and destabilise the region in keeping with the vision of al-Qaeda in the Indian Sub-Continent (AQIS), as per the charge sheet.
The court is preparing to frame charges against them.
Comments