Bangladesh court backs action against deposed military dictator

Dec 29, 2010, 16:04 GMT

Dhaka - A Bangladeshi court has recommended prosecution of former military dictator Hussein Muhammd Ershad for using extra- constitutional means to take state power and legitimizing martial law in the mid 1980s.

'Proclaiming martial law ravaging the constitution accounts to treason. It can't be pardoned,' Attorney General Mahbubye Alam said, quoting the court judgment, the full text of which was made public Wednesday.

A High Court bench made up of judges HM Shamsuddin Choudhury and Sheikh Mohammad Zakir Hossain had previously declared illegal an amendment to Bangladesh's constitution that legalized Ershad's military takeover in 1982.

The then chief of army staff, Ershad proclaimed martial law on March 24, 1982, suspending the constitution and dissolving parliament.

He also ousted elected president Justice Abdus Sattar and his council of ministers from office. He ruled the South Asian country for nine years until he was toppled in 1990.

Ershad's Jatiya Party is today part of the Awami League, the ruling alliance of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed.

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