The police arrested about 165 other leaders and activists of Jamaat and Islami Chhatra Shibir, the Jamaat-backed student organisation, across the country when they tried to demonstrate against the arrest of their three top leaders.

Nizami, Mojaheed and Saydee were arrested on Tuesday, following an order from a Dhaka court, on the charge of hurting religious sentiments of Muslims.

The party on Tuesday had announced the countrywide demonstration for Wednesday.
The home minister, Shahara Khatun, after inaugurating a training course of a National Women Organisation, told reporters that the law-enforcement agencies were alerted against possible violence following the arrest of the top Jamaat leaders.

The ruling Awami League backed Bangladesh Chhatra League has demanded banning of Jamaat and Shibir and for trying the Jamaat leaders on war crimes charges.

The BCL took out a procession followed by a rally on Dhaka University campus demanded for treating the three Jamaat leaders as arrested in war crime cases.

Sahara, however, said that the Jamaat leaders were arrested following court orders for hurting religious sentiments of Muslims.

The arrests involve no political issue’, she said.

Dhaka metropolitan magistrate Ismail Hossain, however, on Wednesday granted the three top Jammat leaders bail in the case, in which they were arrested on Tuesday.

The same magistrate remanded them for three days for the police to question them in a case filed on March 15 with Uttara police, accusing 31 Jamaat activists of plotting, at a secret meeting in a Uttara house on February 12, to strain the friendly relations with some foreign states.

The same court remanded them for four more days for interrogation in another case filed with the Ramna police on June 27 accusing BNP leader Mirza Abbas and 20-25 others of holding ‘unlawful assembly at Maghbazar rail crossing on June 26 evening, torching a car with the intension of murder and obstructing police in discharging their duties.
Another metropolitan magistrate Mohammad Ali Hossain remanded them for nine days in three cases filed with the Paltan police on February 12, 17 and 20 accusing more than 100 unnamed Jamaat activists in each of the cases of obstructing police in discharging their duties with the intention of destabilising the political climate.

And metropolitan magistrate Kamrunnahar Rumi showed Nizami and Mojaheed arrested in another case filed with the Pallabi police on January 25, 2008 accusing them and seven others of killing 344 people during the liberation war in 1971.

The three top Jamaat leaders were also shown arrested in a case of killing Bangladesh Chhatra League activist Faruk Hossain at Rajshahi University in February. Jamaat’s bid to hold countrywide demonstrations on Wednesday against the arrest of their top leaders were foiled by the police.
   
3 more war crimes investigators appointed:  Independent Online
Dhaka, Jul 1: The government has appointed three new members to the investigation agency tasked to put the alleged war criminals on trial, raising its strength to eight, a home ministry gazette notification said on Thursday.

The new members are additional superintendent of police SM Akhteruzzaman, Criminal Investigation Department (CID)’s assistant superintendent (ASP) Mohammed Helal Uddin and CID inspector Mohammed Obaydullah.

On Mar 25, the government announced a three-strong war crimes tribunal, a seven-member investigating agency and a 12-member panel of prosecutors.

One of the seven members resigned while another one was promoted to another government post.

The five other members are former additional inspector general of police Abdur Rahim, former deputy inspector general Kutubur Rahman, retired major ASM Shamsul Arefin, CID inspector Abdur Razzaque Khan and superintendent of Special Branch of police Mohammed Nurul Islam.

War crimes trial should be of int’l standards: IBA
The War Crimes Committee of the International Bar Association (IBA) examined the compatibility with international standards of the legislation under which the Bangladesh government intends to hold trials of persons accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the war of independence in 1971, reports the Daily Independent of Dhaka.
The IBA took up the initiatives at the request of the All-Party Parliamentary Human Rights Group (APHRG), according to a statement issued from the office of Lord Eric Avebury, Vice-Chair, Parliamentary Human Rights Group It says the purpose was not to challenge the right of Bangladesh to try the perpetrators of these crimes, but to ensure that no objection to the proceedings would be likely to arise on the grounds that the 1973 Act was not in conformity with developments in the legal standards developed over the last 37 years.
The statement sent to the news agency says at the end of 2009 the War Crimes Committee reported its findings to the APHRG, and after internal consideration, the report was sent to the Bangladesh High Commissioner under cover of a letter from the Chair of the APHRG, Ms Ann Clwyd, requesting that it be transmitted to relevant Ministers in Bangladesh, and asking for their comments.
A seminar was held on June 24 in Committee Room 3 of the House of Lords to discuss the IBA report, and the High Commissioner finally sent his government’s comments on June 21. He was unable to attend the seminar or to send a representative. The main speakers at the seminar were: Stuart Alford, Chair of the War Crimes Committee of the International Bar Association, Khandker Mahbub Hossain, President of Supreme Court Bar Association of Bangladesh, Christopher Keith Hall, Senior Legal Adviser, International Justice Project, Amnesty International Toby Cadman, International Bar Association.
The representatives of the IBA reiterated that they would be ready to give detailed advice to the Bangladesh government on how the legislation could be amended so as to comply with recent norms of international law, in line with models such as the Rome Statute on the International Criminal Court, the International Criminal Tribunal on the former Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda, and national tribunals such as those in East Timor and Sierra Leone.
They added that there were no doubt that international legal authorities would be prepared to offer constructive advice if it were requested. Lord Avebury undertook to convey this offer of a dialogue to the authorities in Bangladesh, the statement added.

Jamaat links to UK war crimes meeting: The New Age
A UK human rights parliamentary committee admitted that a high-profile seminar it is hosting at the House of Lords on Bangladesh’s 1971 war crimes trials has been organised with the assistance of a group known for having links to the Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI). Members of JEI and its then student organisation, Islami Chhatra Sangha, are known to have committed crimes against humanity during the war of liberation from Pakistan in 1971. The seminar discussing the compatibility of the International War Crime (Tribunals) Act 1973 with international legal standards is hosted by Lord Eric Avebury and includes speakers from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Bar Association.  In March 2010, the War Crimes Committee of the International Bar Association, an independent legal body, sent the Bangladesh government a legal opinion recommending some changes to the 1973 Act it thought would help make the trials compatible with international legal standards.   Its advice reflected the concerns previously set out by the international human rights organisation, Human Rights Watch, in a letter it sent to the prime minister, Sk Hasina, in July 2009. Even though the Bangladesh government consistently stated in public that the trials would meet international standards, it is yet to engage in detailed arguments. Lord Avebury, the vice-chair of the parliamentary human rights group, said although the invitations to the seminar on the 1973 Act had been sent out in his name, Justice Concern provided clerical support in sending out the invitations.  The e-mail address of Justice Concern, along with its contact telephone number, was at the bottom of all the invitations.   Justice Concern was formed only two months ago and has links to the JEI in Bangladesh and its sister organisations in England.

Harkat-ul-Jehad-al-Islami Bangladesh
The Rapid Action Battalion arrested two Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (Huji) members, who had been sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment earlier for possessing illegal firearms and explosives. Abdullah and Jahangir were arrested with another 39 Huji members on February 19, 1996 from a training camp in a deep forest at Thanaikhali of Ukhia near the Bangladesh-Myanmar border. A large cache of firearms and ammunition were seized from them. In 1998, the arrestees were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment by a special tribunal. But they were subsequently released on bail from the High Court soon after the BNP-JEI alliance assumed power in 2001. The BNP/JEI government later banned the organization under international pressure on October 17, 2005, a decade after it began its activities in the country.  
Huji leader Mufti Abdul Hannan said in a Sylhet court that BNP leaders including a former state minister were involved in the grenade attack on Awami League rally on August 21, 2004. Hannan’s brother Mofizur Rahman and Huji operative Sharif Shahedul Alam Bipul also gave the court similar statements. As the charges were read out against them, the judge asked the accused whether they were guilty of the charges. Mufti Abdul Hannan and other accused pleaded not guilty. Hannan said they are innocent victims of a BNP conspiracy. A fresh probe will reveal facts, claimed Hannan saying that BNP leader and Khaleda Zia’s former Political Adviser Harris Chowdhury, Habiganj Pourashava chairman GK Gous and some other local BNP leaders masterminded the attack. He suggested that the investigators should interrogate former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar to go deep into the grenade attack.

People concerned over Allahar Dal activities: The Daily Star
People of four unions under Gaibandha Sadar and Sadullapur upazilas are deeply concerned at the activities of banned Islamist outfit Allahar Dal in their areas. Hundreds of people of Kuptola, Laxmipur unions under Sader upazila, and Kamarpara, Bongram unions under Sadullapur upazila, brought out a joint procession against the growing activities of Allahar Dal in the unions. The processionists paraded different villages and later held a rally at Kuptola Islamia Primary School ground. Addressing the rally, the speakers said the cadres of the militant outfit, led by Mizan, Hamiruddin, Alamgir, Jahedul Islam, are active in Durgapur, Kismat Bagchi, Keshalidanga and Hiali areas in Sadullapur upazila and holding secret meeting regularly. They said after arrest of two militants on May 26, Allahar Dal cadres threatened local residents with death, as they helped police arrest its two cadres.