Bangladesh guards in trial plea

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Human rights groups in Bangladesh have urged the government to ensure that border guards accused of involvement in a mutiny receive a fair trial.

About 3,000 Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) members were detained following the two-day mutiny at the regiment's headquarters in Dhaka.

Nearly 100 people were killed in the mutiny in February.

The country's supreme court is debating whether or not the prisoners should be tried under military or civil law.

Dozens of soldiers were killed in the mutiny, allegedly by members of the BDR, the paramilitary unit responsible for guarding the country's borders.

The mutiny was over pay, conditions and advancement, but the government accused them of trying to plunge Bangladesh into civil war.

Few in Bangladesh have any sympathy for the plight of the detained border guards, but human rights groups, and their relatives are increasingly concerned about the treatment these men are receiving in detention, says the BBC's Mark Dummett in Dhaka.

Some 40 border guards are reported to have died since the mutiny, and there are claims of torture.

The government denies the charges and says that the men either committed suicide, had heart attacks or died from other natural causes.

It has asked the Supreme Court to decide whether a military or a civil court should try them.

Rights groups are afraid that an army court may not give them a fair trial.