Security stepped up at Bangladeshi courts

Judges and lawyers in Bangladesh demanded extra security today after fresh threats from Islamic militants suspected to be involved in this week’s bombings of court buildings.

The Dhaka Bar Association said it received three handwritten letters threatening “more bomb attacks in court buildings” if lawyers did not support their drive to introduce Islamic Sharia law in the Muslim-majority nation.

The leaflets claimed to be from the Islamic Law Implementation Council, a front organization for the banned Islamic group Jumatul Mujahideen Bangladesh, suspected of carrying out Monday’s bomb attacks.

Two people were killed and 25 others injured on Monday, when several bombs exploded in crowded court buildings in the cities of Chittagong, Chandur and Laxmipur in eastern and southeastern Bangladesh.

Jumatul Mujahideen Bangladesh is also suspected of launching a nationwide series of blasts on August 17, when at least 430 small, homemade bombs killed two people and injured 125 others.

“Panic has spread across the country’s courts after we have received the threatening leaflets,” the president of the Dhaka Bar Association, Abdus Sabur, told reporters. “We need special security for judges and lawyers.”

Sabur said some court officials had even asked authorities to supply them with bulletproof vests while at work.

Police said they were taking the new threats seriously and had stepped up security at court buildings, including bag and body searches.

Extra security forces were deployed to court buildings in the south-eastern city of Chittagong yesterday after anonymous callers threatened three judges if they did not follow Sharia Law, said the city’s police commissioner Majedul Huq.

Although Bangladesh has a Muslim-majority, it is governed by secular laws.