DHAKA: A special tribunal in Bangladesh on Thursday banned the publication of any speeches by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is in exile in India after being ousted in August following mass protests.
The decision came a day after Hasina made her first public speech in a virtual address to supporters of her Awami League party in New York. In the speech, she accused Bangladesh’s interim leader, Nobel peace laureate Muhammad Yunus, of perpetrating genocide and failing to protect minorities, especially Hindus, since her ouster.
The Dhaka-based International Crimes Tribunal made the decision in response to a request by government prosecutors for a ban on any speeches by Hasina on mainstream or social media, prosecutor Golam Monawar Hossain Tamim said.
Hasina fled to India after being ousted in a mass uprising in July and August in which hundreds of protesters were killed and thousands were injured. She faces many court cases over the deaths, including some on charges of crimes against humanity. The tribunal has already issued arrest warrants for Hasina and her close aides, and the government has sought help from the international police organization Interpol for her arrest.
Prosecutors said in their request to the tribunal that some speeches and phone calls by Hasina had been disseminated on electronic media and could interfere in the investigation of the charges against her by influencing or frightening witnesses.
“If speeches like these are published and broadcast, we won’t be able to bring witnesses to the tribunal during trials,” Tamim said.
He said the tribunal also ordered authorities to remove leaked speeches and phone conversations from media platforms.
Hasina established the tribunal during her 15-year rule. It was used to try people accused of war crimes during Bangladesh’s war of independence with Pakistan in 1971. Politicians belonging mainly to the Jamaat-e-Islami party were executed after being found guilty by the tribunal.
On Wednesday, Hasina told her supporters in New York that there had been plans to assassinate her and her sister Sheikh Rehana just like their father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, an independence leader who was assassinated in 1975 along with most of his family. Only Hasina and her younger sister survived because they were visiting Germany at that time.
She said armed protesters had been instructed to head to her residence in Dhaka and she was forced to flee to India so that security guards would not have to fire at the approaching crowd.
“If the security guards opened fire, many lives would have been lost,” she said. “I was forced to leave. I told them not to open fire, no matter what happened.”
Media reports said more such public speeches are planned by Hasina to address her supporters in the coming weeks.
Hasina has good relations with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Tensions between India and Muslim-majority Bangladesh have grown since her departure over incidents such as the jailing of a prominent Hindu leader in Bangladesh and attacks on a diplomatic office in India by Hindus.
Yunus has been meeting with political and religious leaders urging them to stay united. On Wednesday, he held a dialogue with most political parties except Hasina’s Awami League party and the Jatiya Party which are facing severe challenges under the Yunus-led administration.
On Thursday, Yunus met with religious leaders and said there was no division among Bangladeshis when it comes to national issues.
Bangladesh has been facing crucial challenges since Hasina’s ouster in August amid mob justice, rising commodity prices, errant street protests and an unstable economy. The security situation remains a major concern. About 700 inmates including many criminals and radical Islamists still remain at large after jailbreaks during the political chaos in August.
Bangladesh court bans publication of speeches by ousted Prime Minister Hasina
https://arab.news/vfz52
Bangladesh court bans publication of speeches by ousted Prime Minister Hasina
- The decision came a day after Hasina made her first public speech in a virtual address to supporters of her Awami League party in New York
- She accused interim leader Muhammad Yunus of perpetrating genocide, failing to protect minorities, especially Hindus, since her ouster
India turns to geo-tagging to conserve Kashmir’s iconic ‘Chinar’ trees
- The trees are a cultural and ecological symbol of the restive northern territory
- The trees face threats from rising urbanization, road-widening projects, diseases
SRINAGAR: Authorities in Indian-administered Kashmir are geo-tagging thousands of ‘Chinar’ trees to create a comprehensive database for their management and help conserve them amid threats from rising urbanization, road-widening projects and diseases.
The trees are a cultural and ecological symbol of the restive northern territory, which is claimed in full by India and Pakistan and ruled in part by both, but hundreds of them have been lost over the last few decades.
Under the geo-tagging process, QR codes are attached to each surveyed tree, recording information about 25 characteristics, including its geographical location, health, age, and growing patterns, enabling conservationists to track changes and address risk factors.
The public can also scan the code to access the details, Syed Tariq, the head of the project, told Reuters.
“We have geo-tagged nearly 29,000 trees, but we still have more small-sized trees that haven’t been tagged... These will be tagged in due course,” Tariq said.
The Chinar trees take around 150 years to reach their full size of up to 30 meters (100 ft) in height with a girth of 10 to 15 meters (30 to 50 ft) at ground level.
The oldest Chinar in the region lies on the outskirts of the city of Srinagar and is around 650 years old.
“We are using a USG-based (ultrasonography-based) gadget capable of determining risk levels without human intervention. The gadget will assess risk factors, eliminating the need for manual evaluation,” Tariq said.
The portion of Kashmir under India’s control was roiled by violence for decades as militants fought security forces, but the conflict has eased in recent years, leading to a gradual rise in development projects and tourism.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Kashmir last week to inaugurate a tunnel and, during the event, said that numerous road and rail connectivity projects in the region would be completed in the coming days.
Afghans fleeing Taliban appeal to Trump for exemption from order suspending refugee relocation
- Estimated 15,000 Afghans are waiting to be relocated to the United States since the Taliban takeover in 2021
- Trump’s administration says US Refugee Admissions Program will be suspended from Jan. 27 for three months
ISLAMABAD: Afghans who fled after the Taliban seized power appealed Wednesday to President Donald Trump to exempt them from an order suspending the relocation of refugees to the United States, some saying they risked their lives to support US troops.
An estimated 15,000 Afghans are waiting to be relocated to the United States since the Taliban takeover in 2021, when US troops pulled out of the country after two decades. They want to resettle in the US via an American government program set up to help Afghans at risk under the Taliban because of their work with the US government, media, aid agencies and rights groups.
But in his first days in office, Trump’s administration announced the US Refugee Admissions Program would be suspended from Jan. 27 for at least three months. During that period, the White House said that the secretary of homeland security in consultation with the secretary of state will submit a report to the president whether the resumption of the program is in the US interest.
“Many of us risked our lives to support the US mission as interpreters, contractors, human rights defenders, and allies,” an advocacy group called Afghan USRAP Refugees — named after the US refugee program — said in an open letter to Trump, members of Congress and human rights defenders.
“The Taliban regards us as traitors, and returning to Afghanistan would expose us to arrest, torture, or death,” the group said. “In Pakistan, the situation is increasingly untenable. Arbitrary arrests, deportations, and insecurity compound our distress.”
Hadisa Bibi, a former student in Kabul who fled to neighboring Pakistan last month, said she read in newspapers that Trump suspended the refugee program.
“Prior to restrictions on women’s education in Afghanistan, I was a university student,” she said. “Given the risks I face as a women’s rights advocate, I was hoping for a swift resettlement to the United States. This would not only allow me to continue my higher education but also offer a safer and brighter future.”
She said she witnessed several Afghans arrested by Pakistani police, which left her in fear, “confined to my room like a prisoner.”
According to the Afghan USRAP Refugees group, flights to the US for many Afghans had been scheduled for January, February and March after they were interviewed by the International Organization for Migration and US Embassy officials.
“We seek the reversal of the ban on the refugee program on humanitarian ground,” said Ahmad Shah, a member of the group, who was hoping to leave Pakistan for the United States in March after undergoing all interviews and medical tests.
Turkiye detains nine people over ski resort hotel fire that killed 76
- 12-story hotel, which had 238 registered guests, was consumed by flames after fire started on restaurant floor on Tuesday
- Authorities are facing growing criticism over hotel’s safety measures, as survivors reported that no fire alarms went off
ANKARA: Turkiye has detained nine people, including the owner of the hotel, in connection with a deadly fire that claimed the lives of 76 people and injured dozens at a ski resort in western Turkiye, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said early Wednesday.
Yerlikaya also reported that the bodies of 45 victims had been handed over to their families, while DNA tests were being conducted to identify the remaining bodies at the forensic institute.
The fire occurred at the Grand Kartal Hotel in the Kartalkaya ski resort in the Bolu mountains.
The hotel, where the fire broke out, expressed deep sorrow in a statement on Wednesday and pledged full cooperation with the investigation.
“We are cooperating with authorities to shed light on all aspects of this incident,” the statement said. “We are deeply saddened by the losses and want you to know that we share this pain with all our hearts.”
The 12-story hotel, which had 238 registered guests, was consumed by flames after the fire started on the restaurant floor around 3:30 a.m. Survivors described scenes of panic as they fled through smoke-filled corridors and jumped from windows to escape.
Authorities are facing growing criticism over the hotel’s safety measures, as survivors reported that no fire alarms went off during the incident. Guests said they had to navigate the smoke-filled corridors in complete darkness.
President Tayyip Erdogan declared Wednesday a day of national mourning following the tragedy, which occurred during the peak of the winter tourism season, with many families from Istanbul and Ankara traveling to the Bolu mountains for skiing.
UK chief legal adviser signed letter saying Israeli policies could 'amount to apartheid'
- Jewish Cabinet member Lord Hermer was involved in British decision to withdraw objections to ICC arrest warrant against Netanyahu
- Open letter organized in 2023 by Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights, Balfour Project
LONDON: Lord Hermer, the attorney general for England and Wales, signed an open letter in 2023 that said Israeli policy in the Occupied Territories could “amount to apartheid,” the Daily Telegraph reported.
The letter labeled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government as “far right,” and warned that The Hague could rule that Israeli policy meets the legal description of apartheid.
The letter called on then-Foreign Secretary James Cleverly to avoid intervening in the International Court of Justice case against Israel.
Last July, the ICJ ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories is unlawful, but stopped short of describing the policy as apartheid.
The letter, organized by Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights and the Balfour Project, said: “The Israeli government is led by a coalition of far-right parties whose common goal is the formal annexation of the West Bank and the extension of a one-state reality of unequal rights over more than 5 million Palestinians under occupation.
“It is perfectly possible that the court will consider aspects of that situation to amount to apartheid.”
Lord Hermer, one of two Jewish members of the Cabinet, has publicly highlighted his belief in Israel’s right to defend itself, but Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s decision to appoint him was viewed by some as a sign of the UK taking a stronger position on Israel.
Lord Hermer was involved in the British decision last July to withdraw objections to the International Criminal Court’s issuance of arrest warrants against Netanyahu and his then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
In August, Lord Hermer refused to approve weapon sales to Israel until it was confirmed that international law was being abided by, during a Foreign Office review into arms transfers to the country.
France arrests new Algerian influencer as tensions soar
- The influencer is one of half a dozen Algerians arrested in France over the last month on accusations of calling for violence on French territory
PARIS: French authorities Wednesday arrested another Algerian social media influencer as tensions soar between Paris and its North African former colony, the interior minister announced.
Rafik M. had “called on Tiktok for the carrying out of violent acts on French territory,” said Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau on social media, without saying where he had been arrested.
The influencer is one of half a dozen Algerians arrested in France over the last month on accusations of calling for violence on French territory.
One of them, known as “Doualemn,” was deported to Algeria where the authorities promptly sent him back to France in a move that incensed Retailleau.
Tensions have surged between France and Algeria after President Emmanuel Macron renewed French support for Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara during a visit to the kingdom last year.
Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, is mostly under the de facto control of Morocco. But it is claimed by the Algiers-backed Sahrawi separatists of the Polisario Front, who want a self-determination referendum.
Algeria meanwhile has been holding French-Algerian novelist Boualem Sansal on national security charges. Sansal, who was arrested at Algiers airport in November, is a major figure in modern francophone literature.
Retailleau, a hard-line rightwinger, has repeatedly accused Algeria of “seeking to humiliate France.”
The far-right in France is urging the government to take tough measures against Algiers, including canceling aid, cooperation agreements and delivering visas.
Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said earlier this month France would have “no option but to retaliate” if “the Algerians continue to escalate” the row.
But Algeria has rejected France’s accusation of escalation, denouncing a “campaign of disinformation” by Paris.
Retailleau’s hard-line stance on a diplomatic issue has not met with universal approval in France, with influential former foreign minister and prime minister Dominique de Villepin accusing hin of “escalation” and giving into “the temptation of settling scores.”
Defense minister Sebastien Lecornu called on Tuesday for “rebuilding the relationship” between Algeria and France, while expressing regret over “the current excesses of the Algerian government.”
Retailleau himself said in an interview published Tuesday that “we now need to normalize our diplomatic relations with Algeria,” adding that “the time has come to turn the page.”
Algeria won independence from France in 1962 after a ferocious over seven year war and the scars from that conflict have never fully healed.
