Bangladesh Islamist party barred from polls

DHAKA - Agence France-Presse

Locals try to extinguish a fire after Jamaat-e-Islami activists set fire to a cotton store. REUTERS photo

Bangladesh’s main Islamist party was Aug. 1 barred from contesting next year’s elections when judges declared its charter breached the secular constitution, sparking warnings of fresh violence in the volatile nation.

Amid tight security outside the court in central Dhaka, a panel of judges approved a long-running petition that argued Jamaat-e-Islami should never have been allowed to register as a political party. “It (Jamaat’s registration) is hereby declared illegal,” said Moazzem Hossain, the senior judge hearing the case said, as he read out the brief verdict.

The country’s election commission said the ruling meant Jamaat could not stand in a general election scheduled to be held in January.

A lawyer for Jamaat however said the party intended to appeal the verdict, accusing the three-judge panel of caving in to government pressure.