Islamist leader is sentenced to death

Matiur Rahman Nizami || Al Jazeera

A Bangladeshi court has sentenced Matiur Rahman Nizami, the leader of the opposition Jamaat-e-Islami party, and 13 others to death for arms smuggling.Thursday's sentencing in front of a full courtroom comes just weeks after Bangladesh held general elections that were marred by violence.Defence lawyer Kamrul Islam Sazzad said those sentenced would appeal. "The verdict is nothing but political harassment. Justice was not done to my clients," he said.

Jamaat-e-Islami is part of an anti-government coalition under former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia that has been calling on the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign and boycotted the January elections, which Hasina's coalition won amid street fighting, a boycott and low turnout.Paresh Barua, a former Indian rebel commander, was also convicted in absentia and also received the death penalty. Others included a former deputy interior minister, Lutfozzaman Babar, and a former director general of the National Security Intelligence, retired Major General Rezzakul Haider Chowdhury.

The sentences were handed down by Chittagong Metropolitan Special Tribunal judge SM Mojibur Rahman, who told the court in his verdict that it was one of the country's most sensational and important cases, state prosecutor Kamal Uddin told reporters. The case goes back to 2004, when police seized 10 truck-loads of weapons in a raid on a state-owned jetty in the southeastern port city of Chittagong, when they were being unloaded from fishing boats..click here for more brief

Comments

A Califonia pastor has been arrested for having sex with one of the teenage girls he took into custody, injuring his dog too

BCCN1 A California pastor was arrested for allegedly injuring his dog and having sex with one of the two teenage girls he had taken under his wing.33-year-old Hyo Bin Im, known in San Ramon as Pastor John, was charged with child concealment, unlawful sexual intercourse and animal cruelty on Tuesday. The bizarre list of charges were a shock for members of Im’s Contra Costa Korean Presbyterian Church. The youth pastor announced his resignation on Sunday, but didn’t explain why he was leaving. He told the police that he was the founder of The Living Well Ministries, a Christian non-profit that allegedly helped widows, homeless, and orphans.But he apparently never brought these high-minded goals home. The Police also found two 17-year-old runaways living in the youth pastor’s house, BBCN1 reports.

Frankenstein and the Bible

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was published in London in the early 1800's well after the Jewish legend of the Golem-creature who protected 16th century Jews in Prague Although there are some differences between the story lines, the similarities between Frankenstein and the Golem are striking: For starters, they were both big and scary with superhuman strength. Plus, they both had to be Jewish. I mean, most of my Jewish relatives have names that end in "-stein"... Goldstein, Silverstein, Frankenstein... you name it. And my own Grandma swore that my Grandpa looked like a Golem. And just to drive home my logical deductions even more, the Talmud talks about a Golem being created who couldn't communicate verbally (Sanhedrin 65B) and it seems pretty clear that Frankenstein doesn't utter any intelligible language known to man. Either that or Frankie works as a NYC subway operator. Although the Talmud may have spoke about Golems, Isaiah spoke about "wearying...

Member of Isreali legislative government being attacked for saying ''Reform is not Jewish''

A member of the Israeli legislative government was slammed for his alleged comments about Reform Judaism on Wednesday, after media outlets reported David Rotem stating , "The Reform movement is not Jewish … they are another religion." The statement shocked members of the Jewish community worldwide, especially as characterizing the Reform movement as another religion has political implications relating to Israel's Law of Return, which prevents non-Jews from making aliyah, or immigrating to Israel. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that a statement released by Israel's Reform movement explained that by using the term "another religion," Rotem effectively stated that "Reform Jews have no place in Israel." Gilad Kariv, executive director of the Reform movement in Israel, called on the Knesset speaker to reprimand Rotem, who is the Knesset Law, Constitution, and Justice Committee chairman . He said, "An assertion such as this makes it ...

Religious Broadcast

Search This Blog