Christians in Bangladesh Rally to Remember Deadliest Incident of Persecution
ICC Note: Christians in Bangladesh rallied earlier this week to remember the country’s deadliest attack on their community. On June 3, 2001, a bomb exploded at the Church of the Most Holy Redeemer in Baniarchor. This bombing left ten dead and another 50 wounded. Christians claim justice has still not been done in this case because the victims are minorities.
06/06/2018 Bangladesh (Herald Malaysia Online) – Seventeen years have passed since the bloodiest attack against a Catholic church in Bangladesh took place. Yet, the victims have not obtained justice, this according to the Bangladesh Christian Association (BCA), which yesterday held a rally in Dhaka.
Christians gathered to remember the attack on 3 June 2001 against the Church of the Most Holy Redeemer in Baniarchor, Diocese of Barisal, which left ten people dead, including seven children, and another 50 people wounded.
Those present criticized the authorities for their neglectful attitude. After all these years, no one has yet to be charged in connection with the attack. For them, the reason is clear: “It’s because we are a minority.”
In 2001, a bomb exploded in front of the church during Sunday Mass. The parish priest at the time was Fr Domenico Pietanza, a Xaverian from Italy. After the attack, he and Peter Boiragi, father of one of the victims, filed a complaint against person or persons unknown.
Police investigations later found that the attack was the work of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islam (HUJI), an Islamist group banned by the authorities in 2005.
Shaikh Abdur Rahman, leader of the fundamentalist movement Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, who confessed to his involvement, was the mastermind.
Police eventually arrested mufti Abdul Hannan, head of the HUJI. The latter was eventually sentenced to death for numerous crimes and executed on April 12, 2017.
Although the authorities arrested 29 persons involved in the church case, they never completed the investigation.
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