Bangladesh police charge 13 over garment factory fire
Source: Deutsche Welle
Owners of the Tazreen Fashions factory, Delwar Hossain and his wife, Mahmuda Akter, as well as 11 factory managers, security guards and engineers were charged on Sunday with culpable homicide for alleged negligence leading to the deaths of the workers at the factory on the night of 24 November 2012.
It is the first time authorities in Bangladesh have brought charges of culpable homicide for alleged negligence leading to the deaths of factory workers.
Public Prosecutor Anwarul Kabir Babul said all 13 people could face life in prison if convicted of failing to ensure safety at the sprawling factory located outside the capital Dhaka.
"The managers and security guards misguided the workers by saying that it was nothing but a part of a regular fire drill when the blaze broke out," Babul said. "So the workers went back to work after the fire alarm went off, but they got trapped as the managers locked the gates," the prosecutor alleged.
Read more: http://www.dw.de/bangladesh-police-charge-13-over-garment-factory-fire/a-17316616
= new reply since forum marked as read
...Thousands of workers have marched through central Dhaka, Bangladesh, to demand better safety at work and the death penalty for the owner of a garment factory building that collapsed last week in the country's worst industrial disaster
The May Day protests came as officials confirmed the death toll from the collapse of the Rana Plaza complex had risen above 400. More than 2,500 were injured.
Among the garment makers in the building were Phantom Apparels, Phantom Tac, Ether Tex, New Wave Style and New Wave Bottoms. Altogether, they produced several million shirts, trousers and other garments a year.
The New Wave companies, according to their website, make clothing for several major North American and European retailers. British retailer Primark has acknowledged it sold garments made in a factory in Rana Plaza and on Monday said it was providing emergency aid and would pay compensation to victims who worked for its supplier.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/01/bangladesh-workers-protest-may-day-building-collapse
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022780264
Her daughter was not the only victim. Here is a young couple who look as if they are asleep, but they will never wake up:
Heartbreaking Bangladesh Factory Photo Shows Couple In Final Embrace
A photo taken among the devastation of a collapsed Bangladesh garment factory has brought the deaths of at least 800 victims into sharp focus.
The photo, which gained initial attention on reddit, a social news website, shows two deceased victims embracing inside the collapsed factory in Savar, Bangladesh. Taslima Akhter, the Bangladeshi photographer that took the photo, told TIME that she spent the entire day of the collapse taking pictures, and that she felt like she knew the couple from the moment she found them amid the rubble.
"I looked at who they were in their last moments as they stood together and tried to save each other — to save their beloved lives," Akhter told TIME...
“I took photos because they work dawn to dusk for very little money and their lives are considered to be so cheap, worth nothing," she told The New York Times last year.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/08/bangladesh-final-embrace_n_3238492.html
And it has had wide attention. I hope this will change working conditions world wide. It's past time to end the war on workers:
Pope Francis Condemns 'Slave Labor' In Bangladesh - 'Goes Against God'
Pope Francis on Wednesday condemned as "slave labour" the work conditions of victims of a factory collapse in Bangladesh in which more than 400 people have been found dead, Vatican radio reported.
"A headline that really struck me on the day of the tragedy in Bangladesh was 'Living on 38 euros a month'. That is what the people who died were being paid. This is called slave labour," the pope was quoted as saying at a private mass.
"Today in the world this slavery is being committed against something beautiful that God has given us -- the capacity to create, to work, to have dignity. How many brothers and sisters find themselves in this situation!" he said.
"Not paying fairly, not giving a job because you are only looking at balance sheets, only looking at how to make a profit. That goes against God!" he was quoted as saying.
Read more:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/01/pope-francis-slave-labor_n_3191288.html
P.S. Not a Catholic. Anyone who condemns the taking of lives for war or other profits, is working for the good. We've been taught the views of the rich and the powerful. They are wrong : People before profits.
JMHO.
Last edited Sun Dec 22, 2013, 08:19 PM - Edit history (1)
K&R for the 112 dead and the injured!!!
For the 13 that are charged
OS