Bangladesh jails 11 for gang rape

May 04, 2011 |

Dhaka

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A court in Northwestern Bangladesh sentenced 11 people to life in prison on Wednesday for gang-raping a teenage girl during a spate of violence following 2001 elections, the police said.

Purnima Rani, a Hindu, was raped outside her home in Ullapara, some 150 kilometres (95 miles) from Dhaka, during nationwide violence which mainly targeted ethnic and religious minorities.

A district judge convicted 11 people — five in absentia — and sentenced all of them to life terms in jail, police sub-inspector Abdul Mannaf told AFP.

The verdict comes a week after the secular Awami League government released a report on the violence which said 355 people were killed and thousands injured as Hindus were targeted for supporting the party.

The Awami League lost the 2001 elections but swept back to power in December 2008 polls.

After taking power, the party ordered an investigation into the violence which it claims was deliberately hushed up during the 2001 to 2006 government led by the Islamist-allied Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

Bangladeshi elections have often been plagued by unrest, with street fighting ahead of 2007 polls killing at least 35 people and prompting the military to intervene and postpone the elections until December 2008.

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