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Bangladesh
Bangladesh protesters set state TV HQ ablaze as death toll mounts, internet cut
2024-07-19
[NEWARAB] Bangladeshi students set fire to the country's state broadcaster on Thursday as protests against civil service hiring rules escalated, with the death toll mounting to at least 39 and authorities imposing what one monitor called a "near-total" internet blackout

Police fired rubber bullets at hundreds of protesters, who fought back and chased retreating officers to the headquarters of Bangladesh Television (BTV) in the capital Dhaka.

Demonstrators set ablaze the broadcaster's reception building and dozens of vehicles parked outside. A station executive later told AFP that staff had safely evacuated the building.

A day earlier, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina gave a national address on the network seeking to calm the escalating clashes.

"Our first demand is that the prime minister must apologise to us," protester Bidisha Rimjhim, 18, told AFP.

"Secondly, justice must be ensured for our killed brothers," she added.

As night fell, Bangladesh was plunged into a "near-total" internet shutdown, outage monitor NetBlocks said.

It said the latest outage "follows earlier efforts to throttle social media and restrict mobile data services" - key communication tools for protest organisers.

Near-daily marches this month have demanded an end to a quota system that reserves more than half of civil service posts for specific groups, including children of veterans from the country's 1971 liberation war against Pakistan.

Critics say the scheme benefits children of pro-government groups that back Hasina, 76, who has ruled the country since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January after a vote without genuine opposition.
Related:
Sheikh Hasina 01/07/2024 Bangladesh’s one-sided election leaves some voters asking, ‘What’s the point?’
Sheikh Hasina 08/11/2023 Bangladeshi UN worker in Yemen freed by Al Qaeda branch
Sheikh Hasina 10/30/2022 Untangling the Chittagong Hill Tracts

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Afghanistan/South Asia
Ershad's Estranged Wife Faces Money Laundering Charge
2005-06-18
The estranged wife of former Bangladesh dictator Hussain Mohammad Ershad, arrested earlier this month on charges including threatening to kill her husband, remained behind bars yesterday after a fresh allegation of money laundering was filed against her. "She was granted bail on Thursday but when I went to the jail with the court order I was told there was another charge of money laundering against her," Sayed Quamrujjaman Mahbub, her lawyer, told AFP. Money laundering is a non-bailable offence in Bangladesh.

Bidisha, 38, has been in police custody since June 4 after the one-time military strongman, now 77, lodged complaints with police. In addition to the money laundering charge, she is accused of theft, criminal damage, forgery, bigamy, and threats to kill, said another member of her legal team, Sarah Hossen. Two days after Bidisha's arrest, her husband left the country telling reporters she was a bigamist. He said he believed she was still married to her former husband Peter Wilson, of Britain, because she named him as her spouse in a 2002 passport application.
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Afghanistan/South Asia
Ex-Bangla dictator lands wife in court, flies out amid hoots of derision
2005-06-07
On today's Jerry: Gold-digging Banglababes and the ex-dictators who love them!
A day after landing his wife in court on charges of theft, former Bangladesh dictator Hussain Mohammad Ershad flew out of the country Monday, denouncing the mother of his only son as a bigamist. "She cheated me. She has got two husbands," the one-time military strongman, now 77, told a large crowd of reporters at Dhaka's Zia International airport en route to Saudia Arabia.
"I am going to Arabia, and you all can go to hell!"
Ershad said he believed his wife was a bigamist because she had named her former husband as her spouse in a 2002 passport application. "She didn't divorce her former husband ... I divorced her on June 3," he added, without giving details of any official divorce proceedings.
"I never even knew I had a husband-in-law! I'm an ex-dictator! She can't do that to me!"
Ershad's secretary Khaled Akhter told AFP that Ershad believed his second wife had not divorced her British husband, Peter Wilson. "He (Ershad) divorced her on Friday," he said, also declining to elaborate. On Sunday, Bidisha Ershad, 35, collapsed in court when she appeared to face allegations of theft, criminal damage, and making threats to Ershad's life. Police arrested her on Saturday after Ershad accused her of stealing money and ornaments, damaging property, and threatening to kill him. Her lawyers said the second wife of the former president was the victim of a "deep conspiracy".
"Yeah! It's a deep-laid plot if I ever saw one!"
Television newscasts on Saturday showed dramatic scenes of her threatening to throw herself from an upper storey of her apartment building before police managed to take her into custody.
"Jump! Jump!"
Their deteriorating relationship has been making headlines in recent weeks in Bangladeshi newspapers. On Thursday, Ershad, Bangladesh's military ruler between 1982 and 1990, expelled his wife from his centrist Jatiya Party, the third largest party in parliament. The couple married five years ago after a long affair. As well as a young son with Ershad, Bidisha Ershad has two sons with her former husband Wilson.
"Jer-ry! Jer-ry! Jer-ry! Jer-ry!"
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Bangladesh
Dhaka Court Denies Bail to Ershad's Wife
2005-06-06
A Dhaka court yesterday denied bail to wife of former Bangladeshi President H.M. Ershad and allowed police to hold her for up to 72 hours while they quiz her about allegations of misappropriating funds. Bidisha, who was arrested overnight at her apartment in the capital Dhaka, asked the court to free her, arguing she was the victim of a political conspiracy. Bidisha was detained after her husband filed a complaint, accusing her of misappropriation of money and issuing threats. Official sources said Bidisha was likely to be questioned on her alleged links with foreign intelligence organizations.
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Bangladesh
Wife of former Bangladeshi military ruler arrested in Dhaka
2005-06-04
Police in Bangladesh arrested the wife of former military ruler Gen H.M. Ershad on Saturday on charges of embezzlement and making death threats against her husband, officials said. Bidisha Ershad was picked up by police from her home in Dhaka's affluent Baridhara district after her husband lodged a complaint against her at a local police station, witnesses said. The 75-year-old former dictator accused his estranged third wife of embezzling funds and threatening to kill him.

Before being driven away in a police car with her underage son Eric, Bidisha replied to questions by reporters. She said the charges were "fabricated" and could not have been made by Ershad as he still loved her. She blamed her arrest on senior officials of the Jatiyo Party, the political organization founded by Ershad during his eight-year rule as military President from 1982 to 1990. "Some leaders in the party did not like my influence on my husband's organization," she said. Earlier, Ershad had sacked Bidisha as Jatiyo's vice-president and suspended her membership of the party, the second biggest opposition group in parliament.
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