The Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Referring to the case of Mr. Shah Ams Kibria, a member of the Parliament of Bangladesh who was assassinated in a grenade attack in January 2005, and to the resolution adopted at its 189th session (October 2011),

Recalling the following: the initial inquiry in this case proved to be an attempt by the investigating officers to divert the course of justice; since the investigation was reopened in March 2007, Islamist militants belonging to the Horkatul Jihad al Islami (Huji), including its leader Mufti Hannan Munshi, have been implicated; according to the Home Ministry’s report of March 2010, several persons have been arrested, including the two (Mizanur Rahman Mithu and Md Badrul Alam Mizan) who detonated the grenades; in addition, the former State Minister for Home Affairs, Mr. Lutfozzaman Babar, stands accused of harbouring and protecting the individuals who threw the grenades; noting that he has not admitted to ordering the attack,

Recalling that, in a communication submitted by members of the Bangladeshi delegation to the 125th IPU Assembly (October 2011), the crime is depicted as follows: further investigation has established that a Kashmir-based Islamic militant organization led by Abdul Mazid Butt helped Mufti Abdul Hannan and Moulana Tajuddin, Huji leader in Bangladesh, transport Arges grenades from Pakistan to Bangladesh with the intent to commit assassinations in different parts of the country; further investigation has also revealed that the accused Badrul Alam Mizan, Mizanur Rahman Mithu and Badrul and Mohammed Ali were present when the grenades were thrown at Mr. Kibria,

Recalling that, on 20 June 2011, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) submitted a supplementary charge sheet against 14 other persons with the request that the court rule on their status; that Mr. Kibria’s wife objected to the supplementary charge sheet, which she regarded as incomplete, and therefore filed a no-confidence motion; considering that the judge granted her motion in early January 2012 and ordered that further investigations be carried out; according to information provided by members of the Bangladeshi delegation to the 126th IPU Assembly (April 2012), this investigation is now well under way; according to information provided by the source on 22 March 2012, the recently assigned Investigating Officer had visited Mrs. Kibria and indicated that she would remain in contact with the family as the third investigation proceeded,

Recalling the striking similarities between the grenade attack on Mr. Kibria and that on Sheikh Hasina and others five months earlier (both attacks targeted key members of the opposition at the time, the same type of grenade was used in both, in both cases the investigation has revealed an alleged conspiracy between members of the then ruling party and Islamist extremists and, in this respect, several persons stand accused in both cases),

Considering that, according to the information provided by members of the Bangladeshi delegation to the 126th IPU Assembly, Parliament’s Standing Committee on the Ministry of Home Affairs continues to monitor the case,

1. Is pleased that the no-confidence motion was granted; trusts that the authorities are therefore genuinely pursuing the investigation in depth and comprehensively, so as to miss no opportunity to shed full light on this crime and hence to identify its instigators; points out once more in this respect that the many similarities between the grenade attack that killed Mr. Kibria and the one targeting Sheikh Hasina, and the fact that efforts to identify the instigators have made substantive progress in the latter case should enable the authorities to make similar progress in investigating the murder of Mr. Kibria; observes in this respect that it has emerged in Sheikh Hasina’s case that the members of the then ruling party accused in the previous charge sheet had allegedly acted at the behest of high-ranking party officials and in complicity with the authorities in charge of law and order in Bangladesh;

2. Remains convinced that international assistance would help to advance the investigation by promoting new evidence-taking and re-analysis of existing evidence; wishes to receive the observations of the authorities on this point;

3. Requests the Secretary General to convey this resolution to the parliamentary authorities with the request that they keep the Committee informed of progress in the investigation and of the monitoring efforts of Parliament’s Standing Committee; also requests the Secretary General to convey the resolution to the sources;

4. Requests the Committee to continue examining this case and to report to it at its next session, to be held during the 127th IPU Assembly (October 2012).

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