A Bangladesh court on Tuesday issued arrest warrants of the owners and four others over the country’s worst-ever garment factory fire that killed 111 workers, after police laid charges.
The court in Dhaka issued the warrants for Delwar Hossain and his wife Mahmuda Akter over the blaze in 2012 at the Tazreen factory, where workers stitched clothes for Western retailers.
“Dhaka’s senior judicial magistrate Wasim Sheikh issued the warrants of arrest against the two fugitive owners, Delwar Hossain and his wife Mahmuda Akter, and four other company officials for the Tazreen factory fire,” prosecutor Anwarul Kabir told a new agency.
The fire on November 24, 2012, shone an international spotlight on appalling safety conditions in an industry worth more than $20 billion a year.
The factory, in the Ashulia industrial district, supplied clothes to a variety of international brands including US giant Walmart, Dutch retailer C&A and ENYCE, a label owned by US rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs.
Kabir said the court accepted charges by police against all 13 implicated in the fire after officers earlier this month completed a 13-month investigation into the tragedy.
