Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Bangladesh

The Growing Threat of Radical Islam in Bangladesh

2025-04-30

[PJMedia] Bangladesh’s political landscape was founded on secular principles under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, a leader who envisioned a nation where religious neutrality would be upheld. Yet, this landscape has shifted significantly after Bangladeshi Prime Minister ~~the loathesome~~ Sheikh Hasina
...Bangla dynastic politician and now exiled former Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She was President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia showed such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as the Battling Begums. That is probably because Khaleda's late husband was the Pak tool who had Mujib assassinated...
was forced to resign and flee the country in August 2024.

The interim government led by Muhammad Yunus, which came into power during a period of political instability, marked a turning point with the swift erosion of secular values. This trend accelerated as Islamic political parties and movements gained influence.

Link

Bangladesh

Bangladesh renews ‘except for Israel’ inscription on passports, Maldives bans Israelis instead

2025-04-17

[IsraelTimes] Announcement comes a day after 100,000 protested against Israel in Dhaka; Muslim-majority country removed text in 2021 but maintained its non-recognition policy on Israel

Bangladesh has restored an "except Israel" inscription on passports, local media reported Sunday, effectively barring its citizens from traveling to Israel.

Israel is a flashpoint issue in Moslem-majority Bangladesh, which does not recognize it.

The phrase "valid for all countries except Israel," which was printed on Bangladeshi passports for decades, was removed in 2021 during the later years of ousted prime minister ~~the loathesome~~ Sheikh Hasina
...Bangla dynastic politician and now exiled former Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She was President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia showed such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as the Battling Begums. That is probably because Khaleda's late husband was the Pak tool who had Mujib assassinated...
’s tenure. However,
there's more than one way to skin a cat...
Hasina’s government at the time clarified that the country’s stance on Israel had not changed.

Nilima Afroze, a deputy secretary at the home ministry, told Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) news agency on Sunday that authorities had "issued a directive last week" to restore the inscription.

"The director general of the department of immigration and passport was asked to take necessary measures to implement this change," local newspaper The Daily Star quoted Afroze as saying Sunday.

The Bengladeshi population’s support for an independent Paleostinian state was visible on Saturday when around 100,000 people gathered in Dhaka in solidarity with Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
Demonstrators beat the images of US President Donald Trump
...dictatorial for repealing some (but not all) of the diktats of his predecessor, misogynistic because he likes pretty girls, homophobic because he doesn't think gender bending should be mandatory, truly a man for all seasons...
, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi because of their support for Israel.

Symbolic coffins and effigies representing civilian casualties in Gaza were also carried during the rally.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party, headed by former prime minister ~~the loathesome~~ Khaleda Zia
...Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, Pak foil, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ...
, and other Islamist groups and parties expressed their solidarity with the rally.

Maldives bans Israelis to show ‘resolute solidarity’ with Palestinians amid Gaza war

[IsraelTimes] Legislation approved by parliament, ratified by president, and takes immediate effect.

The Maldives, a small Islamic republic of 1,192 strategically located coral islets, is known for its secluded white sandy beaches, shallow turquoise lagoons and Robinson Crusoe-style getaways.

Official data showed that only 59 Israeli tourists visited the archipelago in February, among 214,000 other foreign arrivals. However, nearly 11,000 Israelis visited the luxury tourist hotspot last year, accounting for a tiny 0.6 percent of the Maldives’ total tourist arrivals.

Link

Bangladesh

Bangladesh army chief warns country ''at risk'' from infighting

2025-02-26

[GEO.TV] Bangladesh's army chief on Tuesday blamed infighting for deteriorating law and order, warning that the gains of the student-led revolution that toppled the government last August were at risk.

The South Asian nation has been struggling to stem a surge in ~~violent~~ mostly peaceful crime, with the security forces arresting thousands this month targeting gangs allegedly connected to the party of ousted prime minister ~~the loathesome~~ Sheikh Hasina
...Bangla dynastic politician and now exiled former Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She was President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia showed such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as the Battling Begums. That is probably because Khaleda's late husband was the Pak tool who had Mujib assassinated...
"If you can't move beyond your differences and continue meddling and fighting among yourselves, the independence and integrity of the country will be at risk — I warn you," said General Waker-Uz-Zaman, without singling out any group by name.

"Since stakeholders are busy accusing each other, miscreants find the situation favourable. They believe they can get away with anything," he said at an army memorial event.

Bangladesh has been riven by a surge of crime, as well as protests this month where crowds smashed buildings connected to Hasina's family.

Last week rival student factions clashed at a university campus, a sign of serious discord between groups instrumental in driving the uprising against Hasina.

Security forces have arrested more than 8,600 people since it launched "Operation Devil Hunt" on February 8, which the government has accused of being Hasina loyalists and of wanting to "destabilise" the country.

"The anarchy we have witnessed is manufactured by us," Waker said.

Link

Britain

Tulip Siddiq resigns as Treasury minister

2025-01-15

Sir Keir Starmer‘s government is disappearing around him, and it couldn’t happen to a more deserving party.

[BBC] Treasury minister Tulip Siddiq has resigned after growing pressure over an anti-corruption investigation in Bangladesh.

She had referred herself to the prime minister's standards adviser, Sir Laurie Magnus, after questions about links to her aunt, who was ousted last year as Bangladesh's prime minister.

Sir Laurie said he had "not identified evidence of improprieties" but it was "regrettable" that Siddiq had not been more alert to the "potential reputational risks" of the ties to her aunt.

Siddiq said continuing in her role would be "a distraction" for the government but insisted she had done nothing wrong.

WHO IS TULIP SIDDIQ?
Before her resignation was announced, Siddiq had been named in a second investigation in Bangladesh.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said the prime minister "dithered and delayed to protect" her. Writing on X, she said: "It was clear at the weekend that the anti-corruption minister's position was completely untenable. Yet Keir Starmer dithered and delayed to protect his close friend.

"Even now, as Bangladesh files a criminal case against Tulip Siddiq, he expresses 'sadness' at her inevitable resignation.

"Weak leadership from a weak prime minister."

In a letter accepting Siddiq's resignation, Sir Keir said the "door remains open" for her.

Siddiq, whose role as Economic Secretary to the Treasury included tackling corruption in UK financial markets, was named last month in an investigation into claims her family embezzled up to £3.9bn from infrastructure spending in Bangladesh.

Her aunt is the former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina, head of the Awami League, who fled into exile after being deposed last year.

Siddiq, Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate, also came under intense scrutiny over her use of properties in London linked to her aunt's allies.

The Financial Times reported that one of the properties, a flat in King's Cross, had been given to her by a person connected with the recently ousted Bangladeshi government.

According to the Mail on Sunday, in 2022 Siddiq had denied the flat was a gift and insisted her parents had bought it for her and had threatened the paper with legal action preventing publication of a story. Labour sources subsequently told the newspaper the flat had been gifted to Siddiq by a property developer with alleged links to her aunt.

Sir Laurie spent eight days investigating the allegations after Siddiq referred herself to the standards watchdog. In his letter, Sir Laurie said Siddiq "acknowledges that, over an extended period, she was unaware of the origins of her ownership of her flat in Kings Cross, despite having signed a Land Registry transfer form relating to the gift at the time".

He said the MP "remained under the impression that her parents had given the flat to her, having purchased it from the previous owner".

This had led to the public being "inadvertently misled" about the identity of the donor of the flat, added Sir Laurie.

Sir Laurie said this was an "unfortunate misunderstanding" which had led to Siddiq issuing a public correction of "the origins of her ownership after she became a minister".

In the letter, Sir Laurie said: "A lack of records and lapse of time has meant that, unfortunately, I have not been able to obtain comprehensive comfort in relation to all the UK property-related matters referred to in the media.

"However, I have not identified evidence of improprieties connected with the actions taken by Ms Siddiq and/or her husband in relation to their ownership or occupation of the London properties that have been the subject of press attention.

"Similarly, I have found no suggestion of any unusual financial arrangements relating to Ms Siddiq's ownership or occupation of the properties in question involving the Awami League (or its affiliated organisations) or the state of Bangladesh.

"In addition, I have found no evidence to suggest that Ms Siddiq's and/or her husband's financial assets, as disclosed to me, derive from anything other than legitimate means."

In Bangladesh, there is an ongoing anti-corruption probe based on a series of allegations made by Bobby Hajjaj, a senior political opponent of Siddiq's aunt Hasina. Court documents seen by the BBC show that Hajjaj accused Siddiq of helping her aunt to broker a deal with Russia in 2013 that over-inflated the price of a new nuclear power plant in Bangladesh. She attended the power plant's signing ceremony and was pictured with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Sir Laurie said Siddiq had "explained the context" of that visit as "solely for the social purpose of joining family and enjoying the tourist access to the city facilitated as a result of her aunt's official visit as head of state".

He said Siddiq had been clear that she had "no involvement in any inter-governmental discussions between Bangladesh and Russia or any form of official role".

"I accept this at face value," he said, "but should note that this visit may form part of investigations in Bangladesh."

Labour MP Emma Reynolds has been appointed the new Economic Secretary to the Treasury to replace Siddiq. Reynolds first became an MP in 2010, before losing her seat in 2019. She returned to parliament in 2024's general election after a stint as managing director at a financial and professional services lobbying firm.

Link

Bangladesh

'Lips sewn without anesthetic,’ other shockers from Bangladesh report on Hasina-linked disappearances

2024-12-25

[BenarNews] Macabre killings, casual torture, misdirection and snooping were part of "the anatomy of enforced disappearances" linked to deposed Bangladesh Prime Minister ~~the loathesome~~ Sheikh Hasina
...Bangla dynastic politician and now exiled former Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She was President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia showed such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as the Battling Begums. That is probably because Khaleda's late husband was the Pak tool who had Mujib assassinated...
, an inquiry commission said in its first report.

The five-member commission learned about how forced disappearances were carried out based on accounts from surviving victims of such incidents — that is, those who resurfaced.

The commission, led by a retired Supreme Court judge, presented its report last weekend to Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel laureate who became Bangladesh’s interim leader days after Hasina fled to India on Aug. 5.

Officers from the military and various security forces including the Rapid Action Battalion

(RAB) were interviewed by commission members. The United States, which sanctioned RAB in December 2021, accused it of more than 600 forced disappearances over 12 years.

The commission has recommended RAB be disbanded.

A longtime human rights
...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions...
activist, Jyotirmoy Barua, said any claims by Hasina or her supporters that the commission’s members were politically motivated would not hold water.

"The members of the commission are not directly or visibly politically connected — none have a political background," he told BenarNews.

A Bangladeshi human rights lawyer, Sara Hossain, concurred.

The commission head was known for his impartiality, and the other four members had long investigated human rights violations under governments led by both major political parties, she told BenarNews.

Here are 10 shocking revelations from the commission’s report, which is based on its scrutiny of 758 forced disappearance cases:

1. The number of forced disappearance cases likely exceeds 3,500, the commission said. It received 1,678 registered complaints. Of the 758 people’s cases it has scrutinized so far, 204 people, or 27% of alleged victims, are still missing. "[T]he massive scale at which it was unleashed on the population during Sheikh Hasina’s regime is a novel phenomenon," its report said.

2. Forced disappearances were not carried out by a few bad apples, the commission reported. The finesse with which each of the steps involved in a disappearance were carried out and the responsibilities divided across agencies — all over a span of 15 years — did not happen by accident, the report said. "[T]hese systems reflect a deliberate design orchestrated by a central command structure," the report added.

3. With so many involved, how did the network remain undetected for a decade-and-a-half? That, too, was no accident, the commission found. "[S]security forces would ... falsely attribute their actions to other agencies. ... The forces would also exchange victims amongst themselves, with one force abducting, another incarcerating, the third one killing or releasing the victims," the commission learned.

4. Even as they stayed undetected, the perpetrators could be brazen. The report said one victim of forced disappearance who was returned was even told that Hasina was giving him "a second chance," but with conditions. "You must refrain from politics, leave the country, and return only when the situation improves," he was told, the commission’s report said.

5. Abducting people without anyone around them noticing — known as "silent pick-ups" — was a vital part of forced disappearance operatives staying undetected. That was entirely impossible without electronic surveillance, which was widespread, according to the commission’s interviews with RAB and military officers.

6. Victims were detained for varying periods, ranging from 48-60 hours to several weeks or months, and in some cases, up to eight years, the report said. Some of the kidnapped were mixed in with legal detainees and some were stashed in secret cells. The commission said it had identified more than eight secret detention facilities where victims were held across the country. Many other such centers had been destroyed, it said.

7. The remarkable consistency in forced disappearance practices across the country included congruence in torture rituals, which were also "profoundly brutal and disturbingly methodical," the commission report said. One victim described RAB sewing his lips shut without anesthetic — "akin to stitching cowhide." Another recounted, RAB again, electrocuting his ears and genitals.

8. A forced disappearance case ended in one of two ways, the commission learned. The victim was killed or turned loose into the criminal justice system. For those the operatives decided to kill, they wanted to ensure the body would be difficult to identify. But RAB and other forces couldn’t resist making a sport of it. One survivor said a police officer pushed him onto a highway in front of a vehicle, which swerved away from him. The officer didn’t try again.

9. A victim who was let go may have had his or her life spared, but the perpetrators made sure they, perversely, destroyed that life. The captors would file a slew of cases against the victim in an attempt to justify the forced disappearance. This perpetuates "the sufferings of victims, who are forced to navigate a deeply flawed and punitive legal system for years afterwards," the commission report said.

10. India’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has since 2014, when it came to power, been Hasina’s steadfast supporter. Before that, India’s Congress government too favored a Hasina administration. Did this closeness also involve prisoner exchanges, including of Bangladeshi forced disappearance victims? The commission said it did, basing its assessment on two cases and interviews with soldiers deputed to RAB Intelligence.

Link

Bangladesh

Bangladesh dismayed over Indian politician's call for UN peacekeepers

2024-12-03

[GEO.TV] Bangladesh's interim government expressed shock on Monday at a politician in neighbouring India's call to deploy UN peacekeeping forces in the country to protect Hindus and other minorities from ~~violent~~ mostly peaceful attacks.

The Moslem-majority nation saw a student-led uprising in August that ousted autocratic premier ~~the loathesome~~ Sheikh Hasina
...Bangla dynastic politician and now exiled former Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She was President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia showed such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as the Battling Begums. That is probably because Khaleda's late husband was the Pak tool who had Mujib assassinated...
after 15 years of iron-fisted rule.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of India's West Bengal state — which shares close cultural and linguistic ties with Bangladesh — urged New Delhi on Monday to petition the UN to address their concerns.

"They can send the peacekeeping force to Bangladesh and rescue our people," Banerjee said.

Bangladesh's de facto foreign minister Touhid Hossain expressed dismay over what amounted to one of the biggest censures of his country's leadership by India since Hasina's ouster.

"I don't know, I can't understand why Mamata Banerjee made such a statement. I know her personally, I have visited her home several times," he told news hounds.

Touhid accused Indian media of spreading disinformation about the status of Hindus in Bangladesh but offered a more conciliatory note to the neighbouring government.

Link

Bangladesh

Adviser Nahid: Had left video message for armed struggle on August 5

2024-10-30

[DHAKATRIBUNE] Adviser Mohammad Nahid Islam has said that he had left a video message calling for armed struggle in case of defeat or a mass killing carried out by ~~the loathesome~~ Sheikh Hasina
...Bangla dynastic politician and now exiled former Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She was President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia showed such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as the Battling Begums. That is probably because Khaleda's late husband was the Pak tool who had Mujib assassinated...
's government on August 5.

Nahid, who has been one of the coordinators of the anti-discrimination student movement leading the mass uprising, made this remark as a special guest during a prayer and discussion session in memory of martyr Nasib Hasan Rian.

The program was held at the Health Ministry conference room on Tuesday.

In the video, he said: ''If a massacre occurs today (on August 5), we will call for armed struggle. We might not return, but you all will continue to fight. I had sent a video to some journalists. If I don't return today, if we do not achieve victory today, then this is our last message. We were all prepared for death, and we still are."

Nahid said that everyone was ready to become deaders during that time.

''Nasib announced on Facebook and erupted into the streets, telling his family that he might die today (on August 5). For those of us in the field, this was our reality."

Link

Bangladesh

No elections before reforms in Bangladesh: Muhammad Yunus

2024-10-09

[GEO.TV] In a major development, Bangladesh's interim leader Muhammad Yunus has refused to give a timeframe for elections before electoral reforms in the country.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner was appointed the country's "chief advisor" after the student-led uprising that toppled ex-premier ~~the loathesome~~ Sheikh Hasina
...Bangla dynastic politician and now exiled former Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She was President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia showed such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as the Battling Begums. That is probably because Khaleda's late husband was the Pak tool who had Mujib assassinated...
in August.

The 84-year-old microfinance pioneer is helming a temporary administration, to tackle what he has called the "extremely tough" challenge of restoring democratic institutions.

"None of us are aiming at staying for a prolonged time," Yunus said of his caretaker government, in an interview published by the Prothom Alo newspaper.

"Reforms are pivotal," he added. "If you say, hold the election, we are ready to hold the election. But it would be wrong to hold the election first."

Hasina's 15-year rule saw widespread human rights
...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless...
abuses, including the mass detention and extrajudicial killings of her political opponents.

More than 600 people were killed in the weeks leading up to her ouster, according to a preliminary United Nations
...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships...
report which said the figure was likely an underestimate.

Her government was also accused of politicising courts and the civil service, as well as staging lopsided elections, to dismantle democratic checks on its power.

Link

Bangladesh

Case filed with International Crimes Tribunal against six RAB officers

2024-09-23

[NEWAGEBD.NET] A case was filed with the International Crimes Tribunal against six Rapid Action Battalion

officers on charge of crimes against humanity for reported abduction, enforced disappearance and torture of a physician in 2021.

Not the RAB! Nooooooooo!!!

In the first-ever case filed with the tribunal for reported abduction and enforced disappearance, the complainant, physician Israt Rafique Eshita, alleged that the officers kidnapped her from her house at Kafrul in the capital on July 28, 2021.

The accused officers include the then Squadron Leader Ali Ashraf, IT expert Rakib, and additional superintendent of police Md Akhteruzzaman.

According to Israt's complaint, she became a victim of enforced disappearance after the battalion officers kidnapped her and held her in an undisclosed location, where she was subjected to torture. She was produced before the media by the battalion five days later, on August 1, 2021.

On the following day, August 2, 2021, Israt was publicly presented as a 'fake physician' and implicated in three narcotics-related cases, which she claimed, were fabricated.

Her case took to 30 the number of cases filed with the tribunal, mostly targeting deposed prime minister ~~the loathesome~~ Sheikh Hasina
...Bangla dynastic politician and now exiled former Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She was President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia showed such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as the Battling Begums. That is probably because Khaleda's late husband was the Pak tool who had Mujib assassinated...
, since her resignation and fleeing to India on August 5.

In a related development, the International Crimes Tribunal-1 has received two more complaints against Sheikh Hasina, involving allegations of crimes against humanity in connection with the deaths of Dr Sajib Sarkar and Sheikh Ashabul Yamin, both of whom were killed in police firing during the student-people uprising on July 18.

Halim Sarkar, the father of Dr Sajib Sarkar, filed a complaint accusing 71 individuals, including police members, of killing his son.

Sajib, who completed his MBBS from Taherunnesa Medical College in 2020, was rubbed out by police at Azampur of Uttara in the capital during peaceful protests.

'They killed my innocent son, and I want justice,' Halim Sarkar told the media after filing the case.

In another complaint, Yamin's uncle, Md Abdullah Al Mun Kadir, accused 78 individuals, including Sheikh Hasina, Awami League leaders Obaidul Quader, Zunaid Ahmed Palak, and Mohammad A Arafat, of genocide and crimes against humanity under the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act of 1973.

Yamin was reportedly detained by police during the student-people uprising in Savar and shot at point-blank range. Disturbing footage of the police dragging Yamin's body to an armoured vehicle, dropping it on the street, and brutally discarding it on a road divider went viral and shocked the nation. Yamin was rushed to Savar Enam Medical College Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead
He's dead, Jim!
The allegations against the accused are being pursued under sections 3(2), 4(1), and 4(2) of the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act, as calls for justice intensify following the tragic events of July 18.

Link

Bangladesh

Bangla: Ex-DMP commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia arrested

2024-09-12

[NEWAGEBD.NET] Members of Rapid Action Battaliom on Wednesday night arrested former Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner Asaduzzamàn Mia at Mahakhali in the capital.

RAB director for legal and media Munim Ferdous said that they arrested him at about 11:00pm.

'We will hand over him to DB (Dhaka Metropolitan Police's detective branch),' Munim added.

He is wanted in a case of custodial death.

According to the case statement, Nuruzzaman Roni was killed on January 20 in 2015 in police custody and his father filed a case with the Khilgaon cop shoppe on September 2.

The case also named 61 other people, mostly police and Awami League and its associate bodies leaders and activists.

Besides, 15-20 unnamed people were also accused in the case.

Hasina’s adviser Tawfiq-e-Elahi arrested
[NEWAGEBD] Ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s energy adviser Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury was arrested in the capital’s Gulshan area on Tuesday night.

Confirming the matter to New Age, Dhaka Metropolitan Police additional deputy commissioner for media and public relations Obaidur Rahman Shamim said that the DMP’s detective branch arrested him from the Gulshan area at about 9:45pm.

‘Several cases were filed against him. We are yet to sure that he was arrested in which case,’ Shamim added.

Link

Bangladesh

Hizb ut Tahrir Bangladesh wants withdrawal of its ban

2024-09-12

[NEWAGEBD] Leaders of Hizbut Tahrir
...an al-Qaeda recruiting organization banned in most countries. It calls for the reestablishment of the Caliphate...
Bangladesh at a press conference on Monday called on the interim government to withdraw the ban imposed on it by deposed Sheikh Hasina government.

Hizb ut Tahrir organised the press conference at the National Press Club where its central leader Imtiaz Selim said that the Awami League government had imposed the ban on the party unlawfully in 2009.

Imtiaz Selim said that, after the formation of the party in 2007, their party was not involved in any criminal and anti-state activities and Sheikh Hasina government had imposed the ban failing to face us politically.

After the fall of Sheikh Hasina government on August 5, situation has changed and the ban on Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami is already lifted, Imtiaz said.

So, we hope that the interim government will lift the ban on our party immediately, Imtiaz said.

At the press conference, lawyer Nur Mohammad said that on behalf of Hizb ut Tahrir, they had filed a petition with the home ministry on September 5 in 2024 to withdraw the ban.

Awami League government imposed the ban on the party through a press note on October 22 in 2009, which was not valid as it was not acceptable under section 18(1) of anti-terrorism law 2009, Nur Mohammad said.

Nur Mohammad hoped that the interim government would take steps to withdraw the ban imposed on Hizb ut Tahrir.

Link

Bangladesh

Sunil Gangopadhyay''s ancestral home in Madaripur occupied by BNP leader

2024-09-10

[DHAKATRIBUNE] A BNP leader has been accused of occupying the ancestral home of renowned poet and novelist Sunil Gangopadhyay in the Dasar upazila of Madaripur.

The BNP leader allegedly vandalized several photographs, books, and furniture inside the house and later stored OMS (Open Market Sale) rice there.

The accused BNP leader is Sohel Howlader, who was the legal affairs secretary of the BNP's Dasar upazila committee. He resides in the Kazibakai area of the upazila, reports Prothom Alo.

Currently, the position of Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) in Dasar is vacant.

Regarding this, the UNO of Kalkini, Uttam Kumar Das, said: ''A BNP leader named Sohel Howlader had occupied the house and stored OMS dealer's rice there. Before we could take action, he removed the rice. Action will be taken against the occupier.''

According to local sources and the Dasar and Kalkini Upazila administrations, Sunil Gangopadhyay's ancestral property in the East Maijpara mouza of Kazibakai Union in Dasar Upazila consists of 7 acres and 15 decimals of land.

Of this, 2 acres and 97 decimals are recorded as government khas land.

Last Saturday afternoon, BNP leader Sohel Howlader and his associates broke into a tin shed room of the novelist's ancestral home (Sunil Smriti Pathagar), vandalized the belongings, books, furniture, and images, including a picture of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. They then stored about a truckload of OMS rice in the room and locked it with a new padlock. They also removed a signboard put up by the deputy commissioner in front of the house.

A local individual responsible for overseeing the writer's ancestral home, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
, said: ''Since the change in government, Sohel Howlader has been claiming the writer's land as his own with his people. When some supporters of the Awami League criticized him, he attacked their homes. Now, no one is speaking out of fear. Taking advantage of this, Sohel and his people broke the lock of the tin shed room and installed a new lock. They stored OMS rice there. The local administration and everyone is aware of this.''

''We have received reports that an individual has taken possession of Sunil Gangopadhyay's ancestral home by breaking the lock. The UNO and AC Land have been instructed to take action against those involved. They will vacate the writer's house and take necessary steps,'' said the Madaripur DC Mohammad Maroofur Rashid Khan.

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