October 14, 2002	Monday	Sha'aban 7, 1423

DHAKA, Oct 13: Taslima Nasrin, a controversial female writer, has been awarded one year of simple imprisonment for her contemptuous comments in some of her newspaper columns and books including the book Lajja.

A magistrate’s court in Gopalganj, 200 kms south-west of Dhaka, delivered the verdict on Saturday three years after one Dabiruddin Azad sued her in 1999. Her trial was conducted in absentia.

Taslima, who left Bangladesh after mullahs demanded her arrest a few years ago, is now living in Sweden.

She pays frequent visits to the Indian state of West Bengal. Some Indian companies have published a couple of her books, including the most contro-versial Lajja, over the last few years.