SOUTH ASIA - House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats

2177ister made remarks implying that the Government might accelerate the case. SubsequentlyErshad entered into an alliance with other opposition parties to pressurethe Government to step down by calling hartals and boycotting Parliament. On August24, in a case concerning alleged misuse of power and corruption duringErshad’s tenure as President, a High Court panel sentenced Ershad to 5 years inprison and a fine of $1 million (about 55 million Taka) (see Section 1.e.). AfterErshad’s surrender to the court and subsequent incarceration on November 20, anappellate panel of the Supreme Court ruled that Ershad could be released from prisonafter payment of the fine, or after serving 6 months if the fine is unpaid. As ofyear’s end, Ershad remained in jail. Ershad may be barred from politics for 5 years.In 1998 a judge convicted and sentenced to death 15 persons for the 1975 murderof then-President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (father of current Prime Minister SheikhHasina) and 21 of his family members (see Section 1.e.). On June 28, the HighCourt began hearing an appeal of the verdicts and a review of the sentences. OnDecember 14, a 2-judge High Court panel confirmed 10 of the convictions and deathsentences. On the remaining five convictions, the two judges released split opinions,and those cases were pending further High Court review at year’s end (see Section1.e.).The Government continued to imprison eight persons accused of perpetrating theNovember 1975 murders of four senior Awami League leaders who then were in jail(see Sections 1.d. and 1.e.). On October 12, charges were filed against these individualsand 13 others who are not in custody. At year’s end, the court was scheduledto begin hearing testimony in the case on January 24, 2001.Vigilante violence against criminals by private citizens occurs. The Governmentreported that, by year’s end, vigilantes killed 1 person, compared to 20 persons duringthe first 9 months of 1999. Authorities rarely arrest and punish those responsiblefor vigilante violence.Press reports of vigilante killings by mobs are common. Tallying these reports, anewspaper estimated that mobs had beaten to death at least 14 persons in May andhad killed at least 10 persons in June. Press editorials and commentaries opinionedthat the increasing mob violence reflected a breakdown of law and order and a popularperception that the criminal justice system does not function. Human rightsgroups and press reports indicate that vigilante violence against women who are accusedof having committed moral offenses is common, particularly in rural areas,and that religious leaders sometimes lead it (see Section 5).Mob violence also occurs. On August 18, Alfred Soren, a leader of the Santal tribein the northern part of the country was killed and dozens of others were injured,in a mob attack, reportedly carried out by Bengalis who were angry with the tribalsover a land dispute (see Section 5).Violence, often resulting in killings, is a pervasive element in the country’s politics(see Sections 1.c. and 3). Supporters of different political parties, and often supportersof different factions within one party, frequently clash with each other andwith police during rallies and demonstrations. According to government figures, 15persons were killed and 56 others were injured in politically motivated violence duringthe year. Awami Leaque supporters, often with the connivance and support ofthe police, violently disrupted rallies and demonstrations of the opposition parties(see Sections 2.b. and 3). Opposition parties also used armed violence and intimidationto enforce general strikes. During the year, four persons died in violence relatedto general strikes (hartals); five others were killed when run over by recklessly-drivenvehicles that were violating the hartal.One person was killed in an explosion at opposition BNP headquarters just hoursbefore the beginning of a hartal on February 2. The Government accused the oppositionof manufacturing bombs; the opposition alleged that the explosion was a governmentplot designed to discredit the opposition. During the February 2 hartal, anotherperson was killed by a bomb in Dhaka. During the February 16 hartal, a businessmanwas killed in the old section of Dhaka. On August 30, a BNP youth frontleader was killed during a hartal by unidentified persons in the old section ofDhaka.During an opposition-called hartal in 1999, eyewitnesses saw Maqbul Hossain, anAwami League Member of Parliament (M.P.) for the Dhanmondi area of Dhaka,order the killing of two young BNP activists who had been seized by Hossain’sarmed followers. Members of Hossain’s entourage then shot at point-blank rangeone of the men, BNP activist Sajal Chowdhury, who subsequently died; the otherperson was beaten. About a dozen police officers who were standing nearby in riotgear made no effort to intervene or to apprehend the gunmen, nor did the Governmentlater take action against those persons responsible. However, police summonedfor repeated interrogations the family of Chowdhury, which had filed a murdercomplaint against M.P. Hossain and the armed men. 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