Bangladesh issues arrest warrants over fatal garment factory fire
Source: Associated Press
Associated Press in Dhaka
The Guardian, Tuesday 31 December 2013 18.48 GMT
A Bangladesh court has issued arrest warrants for two garment factory owners and four of their employees on homicide charges for the deaths of 112 workers in a November 2012 fire.
It is the first time Bangladesh has sought to prosecute factory owners in the lucrative garment industry, which is the world's second largest after China.
A series of disasters – including the 2012 fire and a factory collapse in April that killed more than 1,100 workers – has exposed how harsh and unsafe working conditions are in the industry that employs 4 million Bangladeshis and provides clothing to western retailers.
Police filed homicide charges on 22 December against 13 people. The arrest warrants were issued against six people who have fled including the owner, Delwar Hossain, and his wife, Mahmuda Akter. If the six are not found by 25 February, when the court sits, they could be tried in absentia for the charges connected with the fire that destroyed the Tazreen Fashions factory, outside the capital city, Dhaka.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/31/bangladesh-arrest-warrants-garment-factory-fire
= new reply since forum marked as read
