Online campaign on to save war criminals

8 March 2013, 21:01 PM

UPDATED 17 March 2013, 02:21 AM

Staff Correspondent

As part of its campaign to stop the war crimes trial, Jamaat-Shibir online activists continue to spread propaganda against the government and the war crimes tribunals through social media. They are running the campaign via their Facebook pages like Basher Kella, Basher Kella Jeddah and Basher Kella Dubai, to name a few. Most of the comments on these pages stoke religious sentiments of the people. The Islamist party activists had long been running such a campaign through Basher Kella. The authorities had blocked the page on Wednesday afternoon, but the Jamaat-Shibir activists immediately opened another page in the same name. On the page, they are running a signature campaign for two petitions they filed on the White House website, seeking "urgent support" of the US president against the two war crimes tribunals. Of the two petitions, one says: "Express concern against the International War Crime Tribunal and Mob Justice in Bangladesh." As of 10:00pm yesterday, it had 58,000 signatures on it. If the petition can collect 100,000 signatures by March 18, US President Barack Obama is likely to deliver a speech on the issue as per the norms, according to the Facebook post. The petition describes the International War Crimes Tribunal as "biased" and says the tribunal is being used to "silence the opposition parties". “The Regime is organising massive rallies chanting 'Guillotine Justice' utilising government apparatus to pressure judge for the death penalty while opposition rallies are being crushed." "Your [Obama's] urgent support against this unjust tribunal and towards restoration of democracy is solicited," says the petition opened by one MA Bronx, who, based in New York, first signed it on February 16. The name of the other petitioner is "Demand Fair Trials for Bangladesh Opposition Leaders, and Stop Their Execution by Government Exploiting Public Sentiment". As of last night, 3,000 people signed this petition, also created on February 16. A CNN i-Report on March 6 reported how the Jamaat-e-Islami had been mobilising people to sign the petition using multiple email accounts. The report cited three specific cases that indicate possible large scale usage of fake email IDs. In one case, the i-Report showed how an Islami Chhatra Shibir blog described the procedure for signing the petition using fake IDs. According to White House rules for signing any such petition, one reader pointed out, one must use a valid email address and only one account per individual is allowed. iReport is CNN's citizen journalism initiative that allows people from around the globe to contribute stories, photos and videos from their own towns. The submissions are not edited, fact-checked, or screened. “CNN's producers will check out some of the most compelling, important and urgent iReports and, once they're cleared for CNN, make them a part of CNN's news coverage,” reads the CNN website. Pro-liberation bloggers had earlier attacked the Basher Kella page and posted "Tui Razakar", "Tui Razakar" (You are a collaborator) and reported the page on Wednesday. It is likely that the Facebook administration has blocked the page after that. Contacted, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Authority officials on Thursday said they did not request the Facebook authorities to block the page. While browsing the new Basher Kella page it was found that the Jamaat-Shibir activists have been posting various messages to instigate the people against the government. Many posts ask people to press the government to free convicted Jamaat leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee. In some other posts, the Jamaat-Shibir activists vow to launch a movement soon to "oust the government". “No more looking back, I swear upon God, from now on tit for tat,” says a post by one Aditya Sarowar, whose Facebook ID shows he is a student of Atish Dipangkar University. One Faria Sara says, "The government cannot resist our movement by banning the page as we enjoy working amid resistance."