Bangladesh charges 1,000 over mutiny massacre

Bangladeshi police yesterday (Sunday) charged more than 1,000 border guards with murder and arson after a bloody mutiny left 148 people dead or missing.

The government said it is planning a special tribunal to try the border guards who organised the mutiny.The charges include conspiracy to kill officers and civilians, using weapons and explosives, creating panic, looting and trying to hide bodies. The penalties include hanging.

Mutiny broke out at the Bangladesh Rifles border force headquarters on Wednesday sparked by a row over pay - border guards have long-complained that their pay has not kept up with army soldiers' salaries. It ended as the massacre of 137 army officers and, it is feared, about 20 ordinary people including officers' wives, in the guards' headquarters in the capital. Only 33 of the 181 officers survived the uprising in the capital, Dhaka, army spokesman Brig Gen Mahmud Hossain told Associated Press news agency.

Yesterday, teams were still searching the compound grounds and nearby sewers for more bodies, including 71 people unaccounted for. Most of the missing were presumed dead.
As the search went on, Dhaka Metropolitan Police filed murder and arson cases against more than 1,000 border guards.

Police said earlier that about 200 fleeing guards were arrested in and around the capital over the weekend.Prime Minister Sheikh ended the two-day stand-off by persuading the guards to surrender with promises of an amnesty coupled with threats of military force. Hundreds of guards began reporting back to their headquarters on Sunday - all claiming they had no part in the mutiny after they were given a 24-hour ultimatum to return to their posts, report to police or face disciplinary action.After searches of the compound, bodies were found either buried in shallow mass graves or dumped into the fast-flowing sewers below ground. Some charred human bones have been found in the remains of a fire. The army has postponed the funerals of those who died until all the bodies have been found.

As more details emerged, it became clear that victims had suffered before death. Some had been bayoneted and tortured, bodies were burned, and the wife of one senior officer was reportedly raped before being hurled from a rooftop, according to BBC reports.

Bangladesh's 37-year history has been turbulent. Forty per cent of the population live below the poverty line - and depends on foreign aid and investment. There are now fears that further political unrest could deter investors and donors.

By Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children