HomeMuslim clerics launch fresh campaign against Taslima
The Hindu
Sunday, September 27, 1998 8:00 p.m. IST
Dhaka, Sept 27 (DPA): Radical Muslim clerics in Bangladesh today mounted a fresh campaign demanding that feminist writer Taslima Nasreen be tried for blasphemy under Islamic laws. Clerics called for Ms Nasreen's arrest and announced a country-wide protest against the reported return of the 38-year-old writer to Bangladesh about two weeks ago. ``Taslima Nasreen can only be tried under the Shahria laws, which provide for the death sentence for such sinners,'' said Shaikul Hadith Azizul Huq, chief of the Islamic United Alliance, which is spearheading the campaign. Bangladesh, does not follow Shahria laws except in matters of inheritance and Muslim marriages. Mr Huq said thousands of Islamic protesters would take to the streets on October 4 warning the secular government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina against sheltering Nasreen. The move by the clerics followed an arrest warrant issued by a local criminal court against Ms Nasreen on Friday to answer to charges of anti-Islamic writings.
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