Bangladesh bans travel for war crimes suspects

Bangladesh has barred 40 people suspected of killings, rape and arson during its 1971 independence war from leaving the country ahead of a planned war crimes trial, a government minister said Monday.

Home Minister Shahara Khatun said names and photographs of the suspects have been sent to air, sea and land ports. Law Minister Shafique Ahmed said the war crimes trial will start soon.

Police say most of the suspects are from Bangladesh's largest Islamic party, Jamaat-e-Islami, which opposed the country's battle for independence, siding with Pakistan instead.

They include Jamaat chief Matiur Rahman Nizami and two aides, Ali Ahsan Mujahid and Delwar Hossain Saidee, who were arrested last month on different charges of attacking police and blaspheming Islam.

Jamaat leaders were not immediately available for comment Monday about the overseas travel ban.

The government set up a war crimes tribunal in March in line with a pledge from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Awami League before it swept general elections in 2008.

On March 26, 1971, Bangladesh - then East Pakistan - declared its independence from West Pakistan, following years of perceived political and economic discrimination.

According to official Bangladesh figures, Pakistani soldiers, aided by local collaborators, killed an estimated 3 million people, raped about 200,000 women and forced millions more to flee their homes during a bloody nine-month guerrilla war.

With help from neighbor India, Bangladesh emerged as an independent nation on Dec. 16, 1971, with the surrender of the Pakistani army in Dhaka.

An amnesty was declared after the war for collaborators who were not directly involved in heinous crimes. It did not cover those who had specific charges or evidence of crimes against them.