This website is dedicated to the campaign for bringing the killers of
Shah AMS Kibria to justice. Shah AMS Kibria, a Member of the Parliament
of Bangladesh and former Finance Minister of the country, was brutally
assassinated in a grenade attack on January 27th 2005 in his
constituency, the town of Habiganj in Sylhet. The website will serve as
a forum for the exchange of information and ideas as well as political
mobilization for those who are interested in seeing the killers of
Kibria brought to justice.
Inter-Parliamentary
Union Bulletin Bangladsh Home Ministry updates IPU Committee on Investigation
October 10, 2007
At its 181st Session, the IPU Governing Council unanimously adopted a further resolution in case BGL/14 - SHAH AMS Kibria. In its resolution the Council took note of new information provided by the Home Ministry but regretted the lack of tangible progress. Read the full text of the resolution here
European
Parliament Adopts Resolution Allow
int'l probe into
bomb attacks,
ensure free EC, caretaker govt Staff
Correspondent
The European Parliament in a resolution on Bangladesh has condemned
repeated bomb attacks in the country and urged the government to ensure
full access of 'international investigators assisting local
intelligence forces' to all evidence regarding the incidents in
accordance with the government's promises. Read..
Dhaka,
Bangladesh March 28, 2005
"Signature campaign-Oath in blood-red letters" ( Rokter
okkhore shopother shakkhor )
The white cloth sheets banner sewn together occasion. Read..
I ask my friends here
and in other expatriate communities around the world to use all their
strength and resources to help us. We are asking that an independent
international investigation team be immediately sent to Bangladesh to
look into the attack of Shah AMS Kibria and the circumstances of his
death. We must build up tide of public opinion through campaigns of
letter-writing and telephone calls to elected representatives of the
people in every country. Make every effort to ensure media coverage of
what is happening in our country. Read..
News8 accused still behind bars though CID finds Huji link
The Daily Star - Feb 10, 2008 Demanding unconditional release of eight detained accused in former
finance minister SAMS Kibria murder case, families of the detainees
yesterday alleged that law enforcers including the investigation
officer (IO) implicated 10 people in the case on instructions from
those involved in the heinous incident.
AL demands unconditional dialogue
The Daily Star - Feb 4, 2008 Awami League organised the discussion to demand immediate trial
of the
killers of former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria. Kibria, a veteran
parliamentarian, who was once a bureaucrat and a diplomat, was killed
on January 27, 2005 in a grenade attack in Habiganj. Tofail
demanded the government allow the UN to investigate the Kibria killing
and the grenade attack case.
"Among
other things, issues including how a free, fair and credible election
could be held without the influence of black money and muscle power and
how the caretaker government could hand over power to an elected
government peacefully can be discussed at the dialogue," Tofail said.....
At
the discussion, Awami League leaders said the killing of Kibria was
part of a long-term plot of the BNP-Jamaat coalition to annihilate the
entire Awami League leadership.
Masterminds left out of Kibria murder probe
The Daily Star - Jan 29, 2008 The masterminds behind the killing of Awami League (AL) leader Shah AMS
Kibria are left out of investigation, putting the blame only on
Harkat-ul Jihad al-Islami (Huji), the slain leader's son and other
speakers alleged at a discussion yesterday.
AL demands fair probe, justice
The Daily Star - Jan 28, 2008 The killers of Kibria and masterminds of the August 21 grenade attacks
on an AL meeting on Bangabandhu Avenue are yet to be brought to
justice, said AL Presidium Member Abdur Razzak at a discussion marking
the third death anniversary of Kibria.
"It is now a public question as to why the state has failed to unearth the culprits."
Remembering my father, three years later
The Daily Star - Jan 27, 2008 If I am blessed with many memories that comfort me as I grieve and
mourn the loss of my father, there is one that haunts me with
overwhelming pain. Like the rest of the world, I watched, on December
27, 2007, the sickening news of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto of
Pakistan. As I watched the unfolding story, all of my senses flooded
with pain, I could literally feel the grief of her family. And I could
feel their rage, as they demanded an independent international
investigation into her murder.
I remember a meeting that I
had, soon after my father was killed, with a politician who had
experienced the assassination of his family members. I remember him
telling me that the family of the assassinated has a special, unspoken
bond, of shared trauma as well as a need for justice, a need to see
that those behind the assassination are correctly identified and tried
in a fair court of law.
It has now been three years since my
father's assassination on January 27, 2005 by grenade attack in Sylhet.
I am sad to say that there has been no visible progress towards a
complete and unbiased investigation into the crime; indeed, there is
little apparent interest in this matter. It is difficult for me to
understand how unresolved political killings can help the country in
its quest to rid itself of corruption and to move towards democracy
through free and fair elections.
Wife finds new probe pace dismal
The Daily Star - Jan 27, 2008 Asma Kibria, wife of former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria, yesterday
expressed frustration with the pace of supplementary probe into the
killing of her husband this day three years ago. ....Earlier in March last year, the
Criminal Investigation Department (CID) informed courts that they had
started fresh investigation in the two cases filed for the
assassination. Since then, 10 months have gone, but they could not prepare supplementary charge sheets.
No headway yet in Kibria killing cases
The Daily Star - Jan 26, 2008 Trial of the two cases filed for the assassination of former finance
minister Shah AMS Kibria remains pending before the Divisional Speedy
Trial Tribunal here for over one and a half years after a High Court
stay. Only a day is left to go before the third anniversary of
the Awami League (AL) leader's death with little progress in
investigation of the gruesome killing.
Death anniversary of SAMS Kibria tomorrow
The New Nation - Jan 26, 2008 The present Caretaker Government (CG) appointed a new
investigating officer and formed a committee to oversee the
investigation, but no progress has been reported to date, family
sources said. They said the CG refused to give permission for the
peaceful protest programs organized by the family.
Dependents of accused appeal to CA army chief
The Daily Star - Jan 20, 2008 Dependents of eight accused in the murder of former finance minister
Shah AMS Kibria yesterday appealed to the government for action against
the investigation officer (IO) for filing motivated charge sheet....... Ruhul Qaiyum, son of main accused and local BNP leader
AKM Abdul Qaiyum, read out the appeal in presence of the dependents of
seven other accused who are in prison for the last three years without
trial......
Ruhul blamed ASP Munshi Atiqur Rahman of CID
for extracting confessional statements of the accused during remand
through inhuman physical and mental torture. The then deputy
commissioner Emdadul Haq had assisted the police officer in the immoral
act of protecting the real murderers, he said.
Is
it not yet time for justice?
The Daily Star - Oct 24, 2007 Almost three years have passed without a proper
investigation into the
brutal killing of my husband Shah A.M.S. Kibria, M.P., in a grenade
attack in his Habiganj constituency on January 27, 2005. My nephew,
Shah Manzur Huda, and three others were also killed in the attack. Like
me, so many wives, mothers and children who have lost loved ones in
grenade and bomb attacks still cry in anguish, with the forlorn hope of
justice.
......
As a citizen, the right to justice is a most basic one. Are we to be
denied this right in Bangladesh? I hope that the government will give
this issue the importance it deserves, as murder is among the most
serious of crimes, and unpunished political murder in particular
destroys the integrity of the democratic political system. Punishment
of the murderers is important for ending the climate of impunity that
prevailed under the BNP-Jamaat-e-Islami government in every sector.
Investigators
now looking for militant link
The Daily Star - Oct 4, 2007 Investigators of the Shah AMS Kibria murder case are now
looking into militant links in the killing. Criminal
Investigation Department (CID) chief Foni Bhushan Chowdhury recently
said, "We are investigating the case further as we've got some
information about militant links in the assassination."
Asma
Kibria, wife of slain leader Kibria, however, said the investigators
are focusing on militants to hide the masterminds of the attack. "They
are incriminating militants in every case so that they don't have to do
anything new," she said.
SAMS
Kibria went to Habiganj on Wednesday on an organizational tour. His
elder brother Shah Shamsul Huda and nephew Shah Manjurul Huda
accompanied him. He spoke as the chief guest at the meeting organized
by Laskarpur Union unit of AL.
Witnesses said the first grenade was hurled at the end of the rally at
Boidder Bazar Primary School playground when SAMS Kibria was about to
board his car after speaking at the rally. District Awami League Joint
Secretary Alamgir said the grenade was hurled at Kibria at about
7:05pm. Former chairman of Habiganj Pourashava
Shahid Uddin Chowdhury, a witness to the grisly incident, told newsmen
later that when leaders were getting down from the dais after the
meeting, the first grenade was thrown at them and then the second one
came when they ran for cover.
Hit by splinters, the former finance minister and others
fell to the
ground. SAMS Kibria became unconscious sustaining injuries on different
parts of his body with his two legs fatally wounded. He was first
rushed to Habiganj Sadar Hospital where resident medical officer Dr
Abdullah gave primary treatment to an unconscious Kibria. After
consultation with party President Sheikh Hasina, local leaders decided
to send him to Dhaka by an ambulance as they failed to manage a
helicopter.
The conditions of district Awami League Joint Secretary Alamgir,
Organising Secretary Rajan Chowdhury and General Secretary of district
Awami Ainjibi Parishad advocate Abdul Ahad Faruq were also reported
critical. They along with scores of other wounded Awami League leaders
and workers were admitted to Habiganj Sadar Hospital. At Habiganj Sadar
Hospital, where 37 people with splinter injuries were rushed in, was
overcrowded with the friends and relations of the victims. Relatives
alleged of lack of proper treatment and absence of doctors at the
hospital.
Standing for My Father May
30, 2005
Reza Kibria interviewed by Tasneem Khalil with photo by Nabil Shahidi Read..
Family
Wants Assassination Probe Valley
News April
25, 2005
The tragedy has made Bangladesh, with its increasing political
violence, seem much closer than nearly 8,000 miles away. It
has spurred
Littlefield and her husband, James Littlefield, to join their
daughter-in-law in an international effort to bring her father's
killers to justice. Read..
Bangladesh's
Lurking Terror Los
Angeles Times
April 5, 2005
It has been just two months since my father was killed in an act of
political terrorism. He had traveled from Dhaka, the capital of
Bangladesh, to address a public meeting in the northeastern part of the
country on Jan. 27. Hundreds of people had gathered to hear him speak.
As he left the auditorium, without any police protection, a series of
grenades exploded. Read..
Ten
charged with Bangladesh murder BBC News
- E, UK March
21, 2005 Awami
League member and former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria was killed in
a grenade attack on a political rally in north-eastern Bangladesh in
January. ...
10
ruling BNP activists charged with murder of ex-Bangladesh ... Webindia123
- India
March 21, 2005 ...
of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) for their involvement
in the assassination of the country's former Finance Minister Shah AMS
Kibria and four ...
A
reign of terror spreads in Bangladesh International
Herald
Tribune - March 9,
2005
BOSTON My father, Shah A.M.S. Kibria, was assassinated on Jan. 27. He
was 73 years old... 'My
father's killing should not be in vain' By
Irene Sege, Globe Staff Boston
Globe - USA
March 10, 2005 ...
27, as Boston University professor Nazli Kibria was about to pick up
her 3-year-old daughter from day care, her father, a member of
Parliament 7,700 miles away ...
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday offered her deep
condolence on the death of former Finance Minister Shah AMS Kibria and
other individuals in a bomb attack in Habiganj. In a letter to Leader
of the Opposition and Sheikh Hasina, Rice said it would be an
especially difficult time for the Awami League chief for her long
association with Kibria.
"Please be assured that we're urging the Bangladesh government to
apprehend and prosecute the perpetrators of these attacks," Rice was
quoted by Saber Hossain Chowdhury as saying. Secretary Rice said the
failure to investigate these acts only foster "the climate of impunity
further encouraging such attacks." Read..
India today condemned the killing of former Bangladesh Finance Minister
Shah Abu Mohammad Shamsul Kibria, an MP, at a political rally, saying
it "constituted a direct attack on the fabric of democracy that people
in that country were striving to create".
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and External Affairs Minister K Natwar
Singh have written to Asma Kibria, wife of Shamsul Kibria conveying
their deep condolences on the tragic death. Read..
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan today voiced his shock and sadness at
the death of a former United Nations official who was killed in fatal
bomb attack at a political rally in Bangladesh.
Mr. Annan praised Mr. Kibria's "long and distinguished career in public
service" and called for the perpetrators of the bombing to be brought
to justice. He also offered his condolences to Mr. Kibria's family and
others affected by his death. Read..
The EU Ambassadors urged the government to take all necessary measures
to investigate properly thoroughly and transparently the attack and
ensure maintain the proper environment for rule of law. Read..
Friday, November 21, 2008 PST
Total visits: 864018
Visitors today: 1753
I ask my friends here
and in other expatriate communities around the world to use all their
strength and resources to help us. We are asking that an independent
international investigation team be immediately sent to Bangladesh to
look into the attack of Shah AMS Kibria and the circumstances of his
death. We must build up tide of public opinion through campaigns of
letter-writing and telephone calls to elected representatives of the
people in every country. Make every effort to ensure media coverage of
what is happening in our country. 
