Bangladesh’s Hasina celebrates ‘absolute victory’ after polls without opposition 

In this photograph released by Bangladesh Prime Minister's office, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, addresses a press conference following her election victory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, January 8, 2024. (Bangladesh Prime Minister's office/AP)
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Updated 08 January 2024
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Bangladesh’s Hasina celebrates ‘absolute victory’ after polls without opposition 

  • Hasina has presided over breakneck economic growth in the country that was once beset by grinding poverty 
  • But her government has been accused of rampant human rights abuses and a ruthless crackdown on dissent 

DHAKA: Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday dismissed the opposition’s criticism of the country’s general election as “illegitimate” as she celebrated securing her fifth term in power. 

Hasina has presided over breakneck economic growth in a country once beset by grinding poverty, but her government has been accused of rampant human rights abuses and a ruthless crackdown on dissent. 

“The election was free and fair,” Hasina told reporters in her first comments since the vote on Sunday, where her party took three-quarters of seats in parliament after polls boycotted by the opposition, with the turnout a meagre 41.8 percent. 

“If any party does not participate in the election, it does not mean there is no democracy,” she said, adding that “those who want to criticize can criticize.” 

The opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which has seen its ranks diminished by mass arrests, called a general strike and, along with dozens of others, refused to participate. 

Senior BNP leader Moyeen Khan called it a “fake election” and said the government was “illegitimate,” he told reporters in Dhaka on Monday. 

Hasina, 76, branded the BNP “a terrorist organization.” 

UN rights chief Volker Turk on Monday implored the government to “ensure that the human rights of all Bangladeshis are fully taken into account.” 

Bangladesh was the first in key South Asian elections this year where embattled opposition parties face a tough battle, including in Pakistan, where jailed former prime minister Imran Khan has been rejected as a candidate, and in neighboring India. 

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Monday he had called Hasina and congratulated her on her “historic” victory, praising the “successful conduct” of the polls. 

Election Commission secretary Moniruzzaman Talukder said Hasina’s party had won 222 seats in Sunday’s polls — revised down by a seat from an earlier declared 223 — but the support of other lawmakers means her actual control over the 300-seat parliament is even higher, analysts said. 

“This is a one-party parliament,” Ali Riaz of Illinois State University told AFP, adding that “only the allies of the Awami League had the opportunity to participate.” 

The Jatiya Party, which won 11 seats, is a long-time ally of Hasina’s Awami League, as are many of the 61 independent candidates, said Mubashar Hasan, a political scientist at the University of Oslo. 

“This election has legitimized one-party rule in the country with no credible and effective opposition in the parliament,” Hasan told AFP. 

“Almost all the independent candidates who won the parliamentary seats are also part of the Awami League.” 

Among the victors was Bangladesh cricket team captain Shakib Al Hasan, who won a seat for the ruling party. 

Hasina’s party faced almost no effective rivals in the seats it contested, but it avoided fielding candidates in a few constituencies, in an apparent effort to avoid the legislature being branded a one-party institution. 

“It was a farce election, like a local neighborhood or a market association election,” said Mohammad Shahin, 42, who pulls a rickshaw. 

Opposition activists staged a protest Monday in Dhaka, wearing black gags over their mouths to condemn the election. 

BNP head Tarique Rahman, speaking from Britain where he lives in exile, called the result “a disgrace to the democratic aspirations of Bangladesh,” in a social media post, alleging he had seen “disturbing pictures and videos” backing his claims. 

Meenakshi Ganguly, from Human Rights Watch, said the government had failed to reassure opposition supporters that the polls were fair, warning that “many fear a further crackdown.” 

Envoys from China and Russia were among the first to congratulate Hasina, visiting her at home on Monday and praising her “absolute victory,” her office said in a statement. 

Beijing’s ambassador Yao Wen praised a “long-established friendship” with Dhaka in a statement, underlining the deepening ties during Hasina’s 15-year-long rule. 

Politics in the country of 170 million people has long been dominated by the rivalry between Hasina, the daughter of the country’s founding leader, and two-time premier Khaleda Zia, wife of a former military ruler. 

Hasina has been the decisive victor since returning to power in a 2009 landslide, with two subsequent polls accompanied by widespread irregularities and accusations of rigging. 

Zia, 78, was convicted of graft in 2018 and is now in ailing health at a hospital in Dhaka. BNP head Rahman is her son. 


US orders more diplomatic staff to leave Iraq, Lebanon

Updated 4 sec ago
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US orders more diplomatic staff to leave Iraq, Lebanon

  • Washington has a ‘do not travel’ advisory in place for Lebanon
  • More diplomatic personnel left Iraq on Saturday and Sunday

BAGHDAD: The United States has ordered staff from its diplomatic missions in Iraq and Lebanon to leave the countries, with the departures taking place as American strikes on Sunday targeted nuclear facilities in nearby Iran.
More diplomatic personnel left Iraq on Saturday and Sunday as part of ongoing efforts to “streamline operations,” a US official told AFP.
The departures were a continuation of a process that started last week “out of an abundance of caution and due to heightened regional tensions,” the official added.
In Lebanon, the US embassy said the State Department on Sunday had ordered staffers’ family members and non-emergency US government personnel to leave the country.
A statement on the embassy website cited “the volatile and unpredictable security situation in the region.”
Earlier in the day, Washington joined Israel’s war against Iran, with US President Donald Trump announcing strikes on the Islamic republic’s main nuclear sites.
After the strikes, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader warned that bases in the region used to launch US attacks “will be considered legitimate targets.”
Fears were also growing over possible intervention by Iran-backed armed factions around the Middle East, who have threatened Washington’s interests should it join Israel’s campaign.
Israel has already fought a war in Lebanon with the Tehran-backed militant group Hezbollah, leaving it badly weakened before a ceasefire took hold in November.
On Sunday, Hezbollah said the US strikes revealed “the true face of the United States of America as the largest threat to regional and international security and stability.”
The group has not previously expressed any intention to intervene militarily on Iran’s side, but its chief Naim Qassem said last week that it would “act as we see fit.”
Washington has a “do not travel” advisory in place for Lebanon.
Iraq, meanwhile, has for years navigated a delicate balancing act between its allies Tehran and Washington, has also long been a fertile ground for proxy battles.
On Sunday, the Iraqi government expressed “its deep concern and strong condemnation of the targeting of nuclear facilities” in Iran, spokesperson Basim Alawadi said.
“This military escalation constitutes a grave threat to peace and security in the Middle East and poses serious risks to regional stability,” he added.


Air India cuts narrowbody jet routes, suspends international flights after deadly crash

Updated 22 June 2025
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Air India cuts narrowbody jet routes, suspends international flights after deadly crash

  • This is the second such reduction after the crash killed all but one of 242 people aboard this month
  • The airline said in a post on X that the reductions will strengthen its network-wide operational stability

NEW DELHI: Air India said on Sunday it is temporarily reducing less than 5 percent of its narrowbody jet routes for “operational stability,” its second such reduction following a plane crash earlier this month that killed all but one of the 242 people on board.

The airline, reeling from the deadliest crash in decades, said in a post on X that the cuts will strengthen its network-wide operational stability.

Two daily flights from India to Singapore will be suspended along with disruptions on 19 domestic routes until July 15, it said.

On June 18, the airline cut international operations on its widebody aircraft by 15 percent, citing ongoing safety inspections and operational disruptions.


UK govt plan to ban Palestine Action ‘absurd’

Updated 22 June 2025
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UK govt plan to ban Palestine Action ‘absurd’

  • Member: Proscription would ‘rip apart the very basic concepts of British democracy’
  • Amnesty International UK: ‘Terrorism powers shouldn’t be used to ban them’

LONDON: A member of the UK’s Palestine Action, which on Friday carried out a high-profile protest by breaking into an air force base, has described government plans to proscribe the group as “absurd.”

Saeed Taji Farouky told the BBC that the plan to effectively brand the group a terrorist organization “rips apart the very basic concepts of British democracy and the rule of law.” He added: “It’s something everyone should be terrified about.”

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is believed to be drafting a written statement on the proscription to be delivered before Parliament on Monday, the BBC reported.

It follows a protest by two members of Palestine Action who broke into RAF Brize Norton and sprayed red paint inside the jet engines of two military aircraft.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer branded the protest “disgraceful,” and the story has raised questions in the national media over the security of British bases.

Farouky told the BBC that he had been convicted for criminal damage after a separate Palestine Action event.

The government move to proscribe the group is a “knee-jerk reaction” that is “being rushed through,” he added.

Palestine Action’s “whole reason for being is to break the material supply chain to genocide,” he said, describing the break-in on Friday as an “escalation in tactics because the genocide has escalated.”

RAF Brize Norton is a hub for strategic air transport and refueling operations, and military aircraft regularly fly from there to the RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus, which serves as an operational center for British reconnaissance flights over Gaza.

After the Brize Norton protest, a Palestine Action spokesperson said: “Despite publicly condemning the Israeli government, Britain continues to send military cargo, fly spy planes over Gaza and refuel US and Israeli fighter jets.”

After self-recorded footage of the break-in was posted online, counterterrorism police launched an investigation. The government also launched a security review of military bases across Britain.

Amnesty International UK on Friday said it is “deeply concerned” over the use of British counterterrorism to target protests.

“Terrorism powers should never have been used to aggravate criminal charges against Palestine Action activists and they certainly shouldn’t be used to ban them,” it said.

Since the beginning of Israel’s war in Gaza, Palestine Action has carried out protests against arms companies, including Israel’s Elbit Systems, which operates factories in Britain.

Jonathan Hall, the UK’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, told the BBC that the group had “gone beyond protest to blackmail.”

He added: “It’s got to a point where they’ve started to say: ‘We will carry on causing hundreds of millions of pounds worth of damage unless you stop.’”

The UK has proscribed 81 groups as terrorist organizations under the Terrorism Act 2000.


Syrian refugees in UK threaten legal action over Home Office pause on settlement decisions

Updated 22 June 2025
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Syrian refugees in UK threaten legal action over Home Office pause on settlement decisions

  • The number of Syrians awaiting a decision on permanent settlement is not known
  • UK government department citied need to “assess current situation” in the wake of Assad’s regime collapsing

LONDON: Five Syrian refugees in the UK are threatening legal action against the British Home Office after their applications for permanent settlement were left in limbo after a government decision to halt all decisions on Syrian asylum and settlement cases.

The Home Office paused interviews and decisions on Syrian asylum claims on Dec. 9 last year, citing the need to “assess the current situation” in the wake of the collapse of Bashar Assad’s regime.

The freeze also applies to Syrians who have already been granted refugee status and are now seeking indefinite leave to remain, The Independent reported on Sunday.

According to government figures cited by the newspaper, at least 7,000 people have been affected by the wider pause on asylum decisions as of the end of March.

However, the number of Syrians awaiting a decision on permanent settlement is not known.

The five people mounting the challenge are being represented by law firm Duncan Lewis, which has issued pre-action letters to the Home Office arguing that the pause is unjustifiable.

Lawyers contend that if the government cannot assess whether Syria is safe to return to, it must uphold its obligations under UK immigration rules and international law.

“Our clients have all fled violence and persecution in Syria, and sought refuge in the United Kingdom,” said Manini Menon of Duncan Lewis, in comments published by The Independent.

“In granting them refugee status, the home secretary guaranteed our clients the protections afforded by the Refugee Convention and assured them that they would be treated fairly and in line with the immigration rules as approved by parliament.

“Those rules are clear: as long as the home secretary cannot conclude that individuals who have been recognised as refugees may safely return to Syria (and that they are therefore no longer entitled to refugee status), she must grant their applications for settlement,” Menon added.

Refugees are eligible to apply for indefinite leave to remain five years after being granted asylum. But with the Home Office yet to provide a timeline for when decisions will resume, concerns are growing about the uncertainty faced by Syrians living in the UK.

The pause follows the toppling of Assad in December by a rebel offensive led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham.

Ahmad Al-Sharaa, the group’s leader, is now interim president, although HTS remains a proscribed terrorist organisation under UK law.

Al-Sharaa, who previously had a $10 million US bounty on his head, met with US President Donald Trump in May.

“I think he has got the potential,” Trump said after the meeting.

In January, Home Office minister Lord Hanson told parliament that decisions had been paused because “we do not yet understand what has happened in Syria on a permanent basis or know how stable Syria is as a whole.”

Labour MP Dame Angela Eagle echoed the stance in February, saying: “As soon as there is a sufficiently clear basis upon which to make determinations, asylum decision making will recommence.”

A Home Office spokesperson told The Independent: “The Home Office has paused decisions on all Syrian asylum cases whilst we continue to assess the current situation, including those for individuals who arrived under the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme. We are keeping this pause under constant review.”


Toll in lynching of Nigeria wedding guests rises to 12

Updated 22 June 2025
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Toll in lynching of Nigeria wedding guests rises to 12

JOS: The number of people killed after a mob stormed a bus carrying Muslim wedding guests in central Nigeria’s volatile Plateau state has risen to 12, according to the Nigerian presidency.
The dead include the groom’s father and brother, it said.
President Bola Tinubu has condemned the killings, the latest attack to hit the region where tensions are high after a series of bloody attacks in recent days, with ethnic Fulani nomadic Muslim herders suspected of killing dozens of people in Plateau’s Mangu local government area.
Police, survivors and local organizations said around 30 people on a bus to a wedding lost their way, stopped to ask for directions, and were accosted by an irate mob.
They were attacked with sticks, machetes and stones and their bus set ablaze, a survivor told AFP. Initially authorities had confirmed eight dead with four reported missing.
Tinubu described the lynching “as unacceptable and barbaric,” said a statement from his office which said the dead included the groom’s father and brother.
The Nigerian leader ordered the arrest and punishment of the culprits as he urged the Plateau state government to “take decisive action in handling these vicious cycles of violence.”
Fulani herders in the state have long clashed with settled farmers, many of whom are Christian, over access to land and resources.
Police say they have arrested 22 suspects in connection with the attack.