US Ambassador Harry K Thomas expressed concern at the...

US Ambassador Harry K Thomas expressed concern at the death sentence issued by a Dhaka court to Faisal Alam Ansary, a Bangladesh born US citizen, saying his trial had not been fair and impartial. Thomas personally met with the Attorney General A F Hassan Ariff asking him to quickly deal with the convict's appeal against the death sentence pending in the High Court. Faisal was arrested in connection with the murder of Engineer Humayun in Dhaka more than four years ago. The Metropolitan Sessions Judge's court found Faisal guilty and sentenced him to death in July 2003. The Ambassador told the Attorney General that his consular officials closely monitored the trial and observed that the "court was partial to the plaintiff throughout the proceedings". The US embassy observations included the fact that the prosecution did not establish any motive for the crime, that there were several changes of presiding judge at the request of the prosecution and that the sole eyewitness to identify Faisal in an ID parade told the court that the police had pressured him to name him as the murderer.