ALLEGED KIBRIA KILLER ARRESTED WITH THREE

C O N F I D E N T I A L DHAKA 001142

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 3/14/2015
TAGS: PREL PTER KCRM BG BG
SUBJECT: ALLEGED KIBRIA KILLER ARRESTED WITH THREE
ACCOMPLICES

REF: A. DHAKA 0906


B. DHAKA 0810

Classified By: P/E Counselor D.C. McCullough, reason 1.4 d


1. (SBU) On March 9, police formally arrested four persons in
connection with the January 27 murder of former Awami League
finance minister Shah AMS Kibria according to local press
reports and other sources. The chief suspect is AKM Abdul
Qayyum, a BNP leader in Habiganj, where Kibria was killed.
The three other suspects -- M. Jamin Ali, Zainal Abedin
Momin, and Tajul Islam -- reportedly confessed to their
involvement with the grenade attack and provided the names of
other accomplices.


2. (C) On March 14, Nazli Kibria, daughter of the slain AL
leader, told us that her family is "not satisfied" with the
arrests, noting that the prime suspect, Qayyum, did not make
a confession in front of the magistrate as did the three
other accused. Even if Qayyum confessed, she said, he is
only the grenade thrower. She identified GK Gaus, general
secretary of the district BNP, as the probable instigator of

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the attack. According to Kibria, Gaus was in London at the
time of the attack, but was arrested during Operation Clean
Heart in 2002 after he was found with a stockpile of weapons;
however, he was released on the order of Finance Minister,
and Sylheti, Saifur Rahman.


3. (C) Qayyum, Ali, and Momin were included in the list of
six detained suspects provided to us by the BDG on February
10 (ref a). Islam was not. On the list, there is no mention
of Qayyum's BNP affiliation. He was detained, it said,
because "He was found to be very ambitious and his movement
in the area before and after the occurrence was very
suspicious."


4. (C) Comment: The Kibria case has taken several strange
turns. Perhaps bending to strong international and domestic
pressure, the BDG may have decided it has to "solve" the
case, but whether these suspects are tried, much less
convicted, before the next election is another matter. It is
notable, though, that the Kibria family is not saying that
the BDG has simply rounded up the usual suspects; its focus
is instead on arguing, logically, that others complicit in
the attack are yet to be caught. Also notable is that senior
BDG officials have moved from initially suggesting the attack
was an internal Awami League dispute to blaming local BNP
officials who they insist acted without the knowledge or
concurrence of national BNP leaders. Nevertheless,
speculation, apparently endorsed by PMO Principal Secretary
Siddiqui (septel),is building that PMO Political Secretary
Harris Chowdhury is tied to and has protected Qayyum. The
subdued follow-up press reporting on the arrests is also
peculiar, given the sensational nature of the case. The BDG
may be pressuring the press to downplay the story, or the
muted response among Bangladeshis in general may reflect
their cynicism that the BDG has actually broken the mold and
arrested the "right" people. If the BDG's position becomes
that it has solved the case, it is unclear if it will drop
its request for FBI help in the investigation.
THOMAS