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(19 Mar 2014)

Owners of garment factory where 112 killed give themselves up to police
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AP TELEVISION
Dhaka - 9 Feb 2014
1. Various of owner Delwar Hossain (wearing mask) entering courtroom with lawyers and relatives as protesters call for capital punishment
2. Various of police escorting Hossain out of courtroom after the hearing, together with his wife, Mahmuda Akter, and son; protesters shouting (++quality as incoming+)


Bangladesh indicts former PM Zia in corruption case
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AP TELEVISION
Dhaka - 19 March 2014
AP TELEVISION
3. Various of former Bangladeshi prime minister Khaleda Zia arriving at court to attend her corruption case
4. Various of Zia leaving court


STORYLINE:

On February 9th 2014 the two owners of a Bangladesh garment factory who are facing homicide charges for a 2012 fire that killed 112 workers surrendered to a court and were denied bail.

Police filed homicide charges on December 22nd 2013 against 13 people in connection with the fire, including the owners of Tazreen Fashions, Delwar Hossain and his wife, Mahmuda Akter.

Arrest warrants were issued on December 31st for six people who police said had fled, including the two owners.

After Hossain and Akter surrendered on February 9th, a Dhaka court rejected their bail petition and ordered them to be jailed, pending further legal procedures.

If found guilty, the accused face a minimum of seven years and up to life in prison, prosecutors said.

Of the 13 accused, four are still at large.

The factory outside the capital, which produced clothing for big Western retailers, had no emergency exits and its location in a narrow alley prevented firefighters from responding quickly to the deadly blaze in November 2012, prosecutors said.

The investigation found that when the fire broke out, managers and security guards told workers it was part of a regular drill and it was too late for many to escape.

Workers found the gates locked from the outside as the fire engulfed the sprawling building, according to the investigation.

It's the first time Bangladesh has sought to prosecute factory owners in its lucrative garment industry, which is the world's second largest after China.

***

A former Bangladeshi prime minister and other leading opposition figures were indicted in two related corruption cases on March 19th.

Their indictments could further complicate the country's tense political situation.

Judge Basudeb Roy accepted the charges against Khaleda Zia, who was present at court in the capital, Dhaka.

The charges allege that an illegal fund was used to buy land for a charity named after her late husband, former president Ziaur Rahman.

Masud Alam Talukder, a defence lawyer, said Zia was not even given a chance to enter a pleas and called it "unprecedented in the legal history of the country".

Defence lawyers also said it was untrue that Zia had illegally collected more than one million US dollars in donations for the charity.

Also indicted on March 19th was Zia's elder son Tarique Rahman, the heir apparent to take over her Bangladesh Nationalist Party in a deeply rooted political dynasty.

Rahman, who faces charges in several other cases, lives in London.

Nine people in total were indicted in the two cases, the others including Zia's staff and businessmen.

Zia, who is the leader of the BNP, says the charges are politically motivated, which authorities deny.

Zia's political party and her allies boycotted the troubled January 5th elections in which Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina returned to power with an overwhelming majority.





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