The decision of a Bangladeshi court to sentence 152 people to death, for their role in the 2009 Bangladesh Rifles mutiny, marks a clear signal from Sheikh Hasina’s government that such acts would be ruthlessly put down. Along with the death sentences, Dhaka’s Metropolitan Sessions Court yesterday sentenced 161 to life imprisonment and 256 men to 3 to 10 years jail. Another 277 were acquitted.
The 2009 mutiny by members of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), a paramilitary border security force, saw at least 70 people killed, mostly members of the Rifles’ officer corps. The action was caused by anger over the low pay and poor conditions among the BDR rank-and-file and the privileges of their army commanders.
To keep the BDR firmly under the control of the military, all the top posts of the force were held by army officers, blocking promotion from the lower ranks. Many of the BDR mutineers were drawn from the poorest layers of society and their demands reflected the deep social crisis in the country. Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in the world, with 40 percent of the population living below the official poverty line.
The riot shook the ruling Awami League government and the military top brass. During the mutiny, the government promised an amnesty, but quickly reneged once the military and police reasserted control. The mass trial conducted by the Metropolitan Sessions Court was intended an emphatic warning to any challenge to the authority.
Welcoming the ruling, The Daily Star said: “Punishment has finally been handed down to the perpetrators of the February 2009 BDR massacre. We are happy that justice has finally been done.”
Some sections at home and abroad termed the trial as a farce and condemned it. The UN’s human rights commissioner Navi Pillay said that the trials “failed to meet the most fundamental standards of due process”. Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch (HRW) commented: “Trying hundreds of people en masse in one giant courtroom, where the accused have little or no access to lawyers is an affront to international legal standards”.
Amnesty International’s deputy Asia-Pacific director Polly Truscott stated: “Justice has not been served with today’s ruling, which, if carried out, will only result in 152 more human rights violations. With these sentences, Bangladesh has squandered an opportunity to reinforce trust in the rule of law by ensuring the civilian courts deliver justice. Instead, the sentences seem designed to satisfy a desire for cruel revenge.”
But, expressing satisfaction at the outcome, Major General Aziz Ahmed, director general of the Bangladesh Border Guards, said: “It was a huge massacre. We are glad that justice has been delivered”.
Prime Minister Hasina echoed the same view when she accused defence lawyers of trying “to save the killers and hinder the trial process”.
Just prior to the mutiny, an Awami League-coalition won a landslide victory in the December 2008 elections.
From 1975 until 1990, Bangladesh was ruled by the military. In January 2007, a military-backed caretaker government overrode the constitution and postponed elections, amid bitter political infighting in the country’s two main parties.
The major parties are again at odds over how the coming general election ought to be conducted, with the Bangladesh National Party (BNP)-led opposition demanding that the vote be held under a non-party caretaker government. The Awami League has rejected this.
—-By Sarath Kumara
