IS BANGLADESH NON-MUSLIM? YET MORE MUSLIM-THAN-THOU MALAYSIA PROTECTS ZAKIR NAIK – AS DHAKA TRIBUNAL SENTENCES TO DEATH ISLAMIC EXTREMISTS ‘INSPIRED’ BY INDIA’S FUGITIVE PREACHER

ISLAMIST extremists who were inspired by Dr Zakir Naik when they carried out a savage 2016 attack on a Dhaka cafe popular with Westerners were sentenced to death by a Bangladesh court today.

A special anti-terrorism tribunal delivered the verdict in a crowded courtroom in the capital Dhaka, with judge Mojibur Rahman saying the seven attackers condemned to deatch wanted “to draw the attention of Islamic State” group.

They wanted to “undermine public safety, create anarchy and “establish a Jihad(ist)” state, he said, adding that the seven “will be executed by hanging until they are pronounced dead”.

Some of the men shouted “Allahu Akbar (God is greatest)” and “long live faith of Islam”, before they were led to a police van.

An eighth man who had been charged was acquitted.

The brazen assault in July 2016 saw young men armed with assault rifles and machetes lay siege to the Holey Artisan Bakery cafe in Dhaka’s well-heeled Gulshan neighbourhood.

The attack killed 22 people, 18 of them foreigners.

Zakir left India in 2016 after the Dhaka attack. He had come to the attention of the Indian authorities after at least two of the men behind the Dhaka attack in July 2016 were “inspired by his preaching about Islam.”

One of the suspected attackers is said to have posted a message on Facebook quoting Zakir prior to the attack, news reports said.

Zakir Naik, who has found asylum in Malaysia as a permanent resident, has declared that he will not return to India until he is assured he is ‘safe from unfair prosecution’. – The Malaysian Insight file pic, November 27, 2019.

Zakir is wanted in India on terror and money-laundering charges.

India’s National Investigation Agency first registered a case against Zakir under anti-terror laws in 2016 for allegedly promoting enmity between different religious groups.

Premises linked to Zakir and his employees, including the offices of the Islamic Research Foundation founded by Zakir, were subsequently raided and searched.

Zakir, who has found asylum in Malaysia as a permanent resident, has said that he would not return to India until he was assured that he was “safe from unfair prosecution”.

Zakir remains a controversial and divisive figure in Malaysia, where he has riled up the Chinese and Indian communities with his provocative statements, and set the two groups against the local Muslims who support him and want him to stay.

More than 500 police reports have been filed against him, leading to a police gag order forbidding him from speaking in public. He is also prohibited from addressing Malaysians via social media.

He has since apologised for his offensive statements.

Malaysia has declined to extradite the preacher despite numerous requests from India, including from the Indian Prime Minister Narendran Modi.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir has vouchsafed Zakir’s stay in Malaysia, on grounds the preacher’s life could be at risk if he was repatriated to India.

Earlier this month, Foreign Affairs Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said Malaysia would send an official letter to the Indian government to explain why Malaysia would not accede to its request to deport the man.

THE MALAYSIAN INSIGHT