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Download PDF The government is going to promulgate an anti-terrorism ordinance to hold trial for criminal offences within six months through special tribunals.
The law ministry has already drafted the Anti-Terrorism Ordinance 2007 that defines terrorists, terrorist acts, terrorist organisations and prescribes punishments including death sentence and life imprisonment.
The government will temporarily forfeit wealth of criminals charged with non-bailable offences, sources said quoting from the draft ordinance.
The forfeiture will continue in case of their conviction by court.
Those who will finance terrorist groups will also be tried under the ordinance. The minimum punishment under it will be a five-year jail term.
The draft will be finalised at a high level meeting tomorrow with Law Adviser Mainul Hosein in the chair.
The ordinance also proposes to form a three-member advisory board to review appeals of persons arrested under the ordinance.
Two sitting judges of the Supreme Court and one joint secretary-level government official will comprise the advisory board, and the government will appoint one of them as its chairman.
The draft says religious communalism means activities of those who indulge in terrorist acts in the name of religion and present themselves as heroes for such activities as well as those who assist in such activities. Spewing hatred against believers of different faiths will also be considered as terrorism.
According to the proposed law, any act that poses a threat to the sovereignty, unity, integrity or security of Bangladesh is a terrorist act. Use of bombs, dynamite, other explosives, inflammable things, firearms, poison, harmful gases or any other chemicals in a way that may injure or kill people to create public panic will also be considered as terrorist acts.
Damaging public or private property, hindering supply of materials essential for people’s life, Taking any person as hostage, threatening one with death, assaulting one physically or creating public panic by such acts have also been defined as terrorist acts.
Besides, forcing the government to do or abstain from any act is included in the category of terrorist acts.
Damage of equipment used for the country’s defence or any equipment used by government organisations will also be treated as a terrorist act.
Moreover, the caretaker government has also initiated amending the Anti-Money Laundering Act 2002.
The immediate past BNP-Jamaat-led alliance government had also taken initiatives to enact anti-terrorism laws and amend the Anti-Money Laundering Act 2002. But it did not succeed due to pressures from some influential quarters within it, sources said.
The alliance government had made the move at the suggestion of the US in the wake of 9/11 and in the context of the worldwide rise in terrorist activities to prevent and crush money laundering and funding of terrorism and militancy.
In the latest development, two officials of the US embassy in Dhaka held separate meetings with officials of the finance and home ministries last week and suggested synchronising the two laws under a single title.
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