Islamic groups demand Nasreen return for trial

Islamic groups demand Nasreen return for trial

DHAKA (Reuter): Radical Moslem groups demanded yesterday that the Bangladesh government bring feminist writer Taslim Nasreen back from her Swedish sanctuary and vowed to continue their street protests calling for her death.

"I ask the government to immediately bring her home and punish her for committing an unforgivable crime against Islam and its followers," said Moulana Matiur Rahman Nizami, deputy chief of the Jamaat-e-Islami party.

Nasreen, 32, arrived secretly in Stockholm on Tuesday from Bangladesh, escaping death threats which had forced the physician-turned-author into hiding for two months.

She briefly emerged from hiding last week to be present in a Dhaka court when granted bail on charges of hurting Moslem religious feelings.

"The government had conspired to let her go, and it's the responsibility of the government to ensure her return to face the charges against her," Nizami said in a statement.

"If anyone had thought that we shall go off the streets and rest after the murtad (apostate) Nasreen fled away, he is living in a fool's paradise," said one leader of the Islamic United Action Committee.

"There can be no let-up in the campaign until and unless the agent of Satan is appropriately punished," the Islamic United Action Committee leader told Reuters.

"If she continues to use her vulgar tongue and pen against Islam while in freedom, the government of Bangladesh will have to bear the responsibility for it," he said.

Prayers

Nearly 500 Moslems from two small militant organizations demonstrated following noon prayers in Dhaka yesterday, calling for Nasreen to be hanged.

Witnesses said the protesters paraded through the streets near Dhaka's Baitul Mokarram mosque and dispersed peacefully shortly afterwards.

Police continued yesterday a tight watch on the Swedish embassy and diplomatic missions of other countries that supported Nasreen, who went into hiding in Sweden immediately after arrival, saying she wanted to rest and work.

The Bangladesh government has said there was no legal restriction on her leaving the country under her bail conditions.

Nasreen had been in hiding since June 4 after the government ordered her arrest for insulting Moslem religious feelings by telling India's Statesman newspaper that Islam's holy book, the Koran, should be "revised thoroughly".

Nasreen later said she was misquoted but the newspaper stood by its report.

Information Minister Nazmul Huda said in comments reported in the Inquilab newspaper yesterday that a case against Nasreen on charges of hurting Islamic feelings was still pending at a Dhaka Magistrate's court.

"(But) if someone does not appear in court personally, then the defense may not be as strong. In that case she may be convicted," he was quoted as saying.

"Once convicted, she will probably have to go straight into custody when she returns," he said.

Huda said some fundamentalist groups were trying to gain politically from the Nasreen controversy. "The government will take all measures, by using its own mechanism, to control the situation," he said.