Bangladesh’s chief justice resigns under pressure as Yunus-led interim government starts working

Students shout slogans as they demand the resignation of Bangladesh’s Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan and other senior judges during a public protest in Dhaka on Aug. 10, 2024. (AP)
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Updated 10 August 2024
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Bangladesh’s chief justice resigns under pressure as Yunus-led interim government starts working

  • Five other top judges in the Supreme Court were also expected to resign
  • Protests by students began in July against a quota system for government jobs that critics said benefitted people with connections to Hasina’s party

DHAKA: Bangladesh’s Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan resigned Saturday following protests by a group of students and other demonstrators as the country’s interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus started functioning days after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was forced to resign and flee to India.
Asif Nazrul, law, justice and parliamentary affairs adviser to the interim government, said in a video message posted on Facebook that his office received the resignation letter and they would forward it to the country’s figurehead President Mohammed Shahabuddin for further procedures.
Five other top judges in the Supreme Court were also expected to resign.
Tensions gripped Saturday morning after the chief justice called for a meeting of the judges of the country’s High Court and the Supreme Court to discuss the working of the judiciary under the new government. The protesters thronged the court premises and demanded that the chief justice and other judges of the top court step down.
A key student leader Asif Mahmud — who was appointed as an adviser at the Ministry of Youth and Sports — urged his supporters to gather at the court premises to press for an unconditional resignation, in a Facebook post in the morning.
On Thursday, Yunus was sworn in, and 16 other members were included in his interim Cabinet, who were drawn mainly from civil society and included two student protest leaders after the president dissolved Parliament. New Cabinet members were chosen after talks earlier this week between student leaders, civil society representatives and the military.
Protests by students began in July against a quota system for government jobs that critics said benefitted people with connections to Hasina’s party. She resigned and fled to India Monday after the protests morphed into a movement against her government, leaving more than 300 people dead including students and police officers in the ensuing violence.
Yunus, who was awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his work developing microcredit markets, was in Paris for the Olympics when he was chosen for the interim role.
He called for peace and promised to bring reforms. The interim government is expected to announce a new election, but it is not clear how long they wish to stay in power and when the elections could be held. The country’s main opposition demanded a new election in three months, but that is unlikely to happen, according to analysts.
Nazrul said that the Yunus-led government would remain in power as long as necessary, trying to address the desires of people and political parties for “reforms” and “election.”
Hasina’s Awami League party has not said anything specific about the election timeframe, but her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy said that an election without their party would not be acceptable as it is “the largest” party in Bangladesh.
Yunus, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for helping the poor through his rural finance organization — had a frosty relationship with Hasina, who had called him a “bloodsucker” allegedly for using force to extract loan repayments from rural poor, mainly women. Yunus denied the allegations.
He faced many court cases and was convicted by a court for violating the country’s labor law and sentenced to six months in jail. But he was on bail upon appeal, and before his appointment, he was acquitted of the charges.
He was quickly selected as the head of the interim government when Hasina’s downfall created a vacuum and left the future uncertain for Bangladesh, which has a history of military rule and myriad crises.
Hasina, 76, was elected to a fourth consecutive term in January, but the vote was boycotted by her main opponents, with thousands of opposition activists detained beforehand. The US and UK denounced the result as not credible. Hasina’s critics say her administration increasingly was marked by human rights abuses and corruption, and was following a streak of authoritarianism.
The chaos on Bangladesh’s streets continued after her resignation on Monday. Dozens of police officers were killed, prompting police to stop working across the country.
The military is helping police officers to return to work but it will take more time to get rid of their trauma and to restore the police administration to its full functionality.


Indonesian volunteers report Israeli strikes on Palestinians fleeing assault on north Gaza

Updated 13 sec ago
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Indonesian volunteers report Israeli strikes on Palestinians fleeing assault on north Gaza

  • About 400,000 Palestinians trapped in north Gaza as Israeli military launches new strikes
  • Workers at Indonesian hospital choose to stay with patients despite Israel’s evacuation orders

JAKARTA: Palestinians fleeing northern Gaza after being ordered to do so by the Israeli military are being shot at as they evacuate, Indonesian hospital volunteers report, as hundreds of thousands of civilians are trapped in the area.

The Israeli forces issued evacuation orders on Sunday morning for large parts of northern Gaza and instructed residents to seek refuge in the overcrowded “safe zone” in the southern area of Al-Mawasi, ahead of new ground and air attacks.  

The Indonesia Hospital in north Gaza, which is funded by the Indonesian NGO Medical Emergency Rescue Committee, or MER-C, was among the medical centers ordered to evacuate.

MER-C volunteers said the people who tried to flee were targeted by Israeli forces on the routes designated as humanitarian zones. 

“We have Indonesian volunteers there, and when they reported to us we could hear the sound of guns being fired sporadically as people started to evacuate to the south,” Sarbini Abdul Murad, chairman of MER-C’s board of trustees in Jakarta, told Arab News.  

“What Israel is doing is just like the beginning of their war on Gaza, asking residents to evacuate according to the military’s orders, but shooting them while they are evacuating,” he said. “Now it’s the same, they issue the designated routes for evacuation but shoot people on their journey.” 

The Indonesia Hospital was functioning partially before Sunday’s evacuation orders. More than two dozen patients remained under the care of about 40 medical workers who chose to stay. 

“Health workers are still there even though they are also ordered to leave the hospital. They are doing so for the sake of humanity, because many residents are also staying, refusing to evacuate,” Murad said. 

“Many people are also in critical condition, so the health workers are staying because they are very needed by the people. All the patients being treated are victims of Israeli attacks.” 

Dozens of people were reported to have been killed and wounded in north Gaza this week, as Israel launched new strikes, which it said were aimed at preventing Palestinian fighters from regrouping in the area. 

“Israel didn’t keep its promise. When they issued the orders for evacuation, it was also written that there will be humanitarian routes … but in reality, Israel shot and bombed the refugees who are evacuating,” Fikri Rofiul Haq, a MER-C volunteer at the Indonesian hospital, said in an audio message shared on social media.

“Israel also threatened that anyone who stays in the hospital will be killed or captured … Israel is destroying all health facilities in northern Gaza, because there are only three functioning hospitals left.” 

About 400,000 people are trapped in north Gaza, Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN relief agency for Palestine, UNRWA, wrote on X on Wednesday. 

He said many refused to leave “because they know too well that no place anywhere in Gaza is safe.” 

More than a year since Israel launched its war on Gaza, its military has killed at least 42,000 people and injured more than 97,000. The real death toll is feared to be much higher, with estimates published by the medical journal The Lancet indicating that as of July it could be more than 186,000.


Human Rights Watch tells NATO members to take in former Afghan policewomen

An Afghan policewoman searches burqa-clad devotees arriving for Eid Al-Fitr prayers in Herat. (File/AFP)
Updated 38 min 59 sec ago
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Human Rights Watch tells NATO members to take in former Afghan policewomen

  • Thousands are in hiding and face persecution from the Taliban for supporting former government
  • HRW report documents cases of sexual abuse, harassment including from before the Taliban took power

LONDON: Human Rights Watch has urged NATO member states to evacuate and house Afghan policewomen threatened by the Taliban.

About 3,800 former policewomen face persecution in Afghanistan, including sexual abuse and harassment, for their past roles working alongside NATO forces. Many feel betrayed by NATO for failing to transport them out of the country following the collapse of the government and the coalition withdrawal in August 2021.

HRW has published a report, titled “Double Betrayal: Abuses against Afghan Policewomen Past and Present,” which documents how thousands live in hiding in Afghanistan, with others having fled to Pakistan and Iran.

The report calls on the US, UK, EU member states, Canada and Japan to resettle the former Afghan policewomen as a priority, to put a stop to their suffering and recognize their contributions assisting the coalition in Afghanistan in maintaining law and order.

Fereshta Abbasi, HRW’s Afghanistan researcher, told The Independent about the experience of one female former police officer she spoke to for the report.

“The district police chief came to her house at night and raped her. Her husband was away that day. She cried in front of me. She said she couldn’t file a complaint because she feared her husband would divorce her and she would lose custody of her children,” Abbasi said.

Another former officer told her: “The head of intelligence for my station really harassed me. He told me that he could do whatever he wanted to me.”

Abbasi added: “Almost all of them (the former officers) have received threatening calls from the Taliban; their houses have been raided. They are being threatened by the Taliban but also by their families because being a policewoman was never accepted in the Afghan society.”

Many women who worked in the police fear reprisals from the government — but also from broader Afghan society — if they are identified.

One told HRW that the Taliban contacted her to demand she return to work, but she was concerned it was an attempt to trap her.

“I got scared and cut the phone call,” she said. “Again I received a phone call and this time I was asked, ‘will you come by yourself or shall we come and drag you by the hair?’”

She now disguises herself in public to avoid being persecuted, telling HRW: “If people find out, they might rat me out to the Taliban that I used to work for police.”

The report said that cases of poor mental health among former Afghan policewomen, including anxiety, depression and panic attacks, are common as a result of abuse.

This is compounded by the ill-treatment they faced before the Taliban took control of the country, with male police superiors frequently abusing their power over female subordinates.

“I spoke to one of the former policewomen who said she served the government in the same job role for 20 years because she rejected demands of sexual favors,” Abbasi told The Independent.

“Now, they are asked to come back by the Taliban to do menial jobs as sweepers, prison guards or clerks, but nobody can ensure their safety.”

She added: “The conditions under the Taliban are abysmal and horrifying but that doesn’t mean these policewomen who served alongside the UK and the US, among other nations, don’t get to hold those who harassed them accountable.”


Russia hits civilian, critical infrastructure, injures 10 in Ukraine

Updated 10 October 2024
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Russia hits civilian, critical infrastructure, injures 10 in Ukraine

  • Russia launched two ballistic missiles on the southern city of Mykolaiv in the early afternoon, targeting critical infrastructure
  • Russian troops also shelled Kherson and damaged energy equipment

KYIV: Attacks by Russian forces on Ukraine overnight and on Thursday across the country hit civilian and critical infrastructure facilities, injuring at least 10 people, Ukrainian authorities said.
Russia launched two ballistic missiles on the southern city of Mykolaiv in the early afternoon, targeting critical infrastructure, regional Governor Vitaliy Kim said.
Two people were wounded and a piece of equipment destroyed, he said in televised comments, without giving more details.
Russian troops also shelled Kherson and damaged energy equipment, according to Roman Mrochko, head of the southern city's military administration. Several settlements and part of the city were facing power outages, he said.
Separately, a flurry of Russian guided bombs early in the morning injured six people, including a 17-year-old girl, and damaged 29 buildings in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, its regional governor Ivan Fedorov, said.
Ukraine's air force said on the Telegram messaging app that it had downed 41 out of 62 drones launched by Russia. Russian forces also launched eight missiles, it added, while 14 drones were "locationally lost".
"As a result of the Russian missile and drone attacks civilian objects and critical infrastructure facilities in the Odesa, Poltava and Donetsk regions were hit," it said.
A drone attack on the central city of Kryvyi Rih injured two people and damaged a five-storey residential building, causing a fire, Dnipropetrovsk region governor, Serhiy Lysak, said.
The emergency services rescued seven people from the damaged part of the building and put out the fire at the site, he added.
Separately, a cruise missile attack late on Wednesday damaged a storage area at an infrastructure facility in the southern Ukrainian region of Mykolaiv, causing a blaze that was later extinguished, the governor said.
Regional authorities also reported late on Wednesday that a ballistic missile attack had hit port infrastructure in the Odesa region, killing eight people and damaging a Panama-flagged container ship.


UK religious hate crime hits record high over Gaza war

Muslims arrive at the East London Mosque & London Muslim Center. (File/AFP)
Updated 10 October 2024
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UK religious hate crime hits record high over Gaza war

  • There were 3,866 hate crimes against Muslims and hate crimes against Jewish people more than doubled to 3,282
  • “The appalling levels of anti-Semitic and Islamophobic hate crimes outlined in today’s figures are a stain on our society,” said interior minister Yvette Cooper

LONDON: Religious hate crime in England and Wales rose by a record 25 percent in the last year, fueled by a spike since the start of the war in Gaza, government data showed Thursday.
The highest annual figure of religious hate crimes in over a decade was due to a rise in offenses “against Jewish people and to a lesser extent Muslims” since the Hamas attack of October 7 last year, the interior ministry said.
Overall, there were 140,561 hate crimes — defined as an offense based on a person’s race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, disability or transgender identity — recorded by the police in the 12 months to March.
Most — 98,799 or 70 percent — were racially motivated.
Both the overall and race hate crime figures are down five percent on the previous 12 months.
But religious hate crimes surged from 8,370 in 2022-23 to nearly 10,500 — the highest annual figure since data collection began in 2012.
Hate crimes against Jewish people more than doubled to 3,282 while there were also 3,866 hate crimes against Muslims.
“The appalling levels of anti-Semitic and Islamophobic hate crimes outlined in today’s figures are a stain on our society,” said interior minister Yvette Cooper.
She promised to tackle “this toxic hatred wherever it is found,” adding: “We must not allow events unfolding in the Middle East to play out in increased hatred and tension here on our streets.
“Those who push this poison — offline or online — must face the full force of the law.”
The latest data comes just days after marches and memorials took place across the country to mark the first anniversary of Hamas’s attack against Israel and Israel’s retaliation in Gaza, which the group controls.
British faith leaders, including from Jewish and Muslim communities, have called for the public to reject “prejudice and hatred in all its forms.”
Police in England and Wales recorded a fall in hate crimes on the basis of sexual orientation, disability, and against transgender people.


Myanmar junta authorities arrest prominent protest leader

Updated 10 October 2024
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Myanmar junta authorities arrest prominent protest leader

  • Paing Phyo Min was arrested late Wednesday after authorities entered a residence in east Yangon’s Thaketa township

BANGKOK: Myanmar security forces have arrested a prominent democracy activist and protest leader in a nighttime raid in commercial hub Yangon, a member of his protest group said on Thursday.
Paing Phyo Min was arrested late Wednesday after authorities entered a residence in east Yangon’s Thaketa township, Nan Lin of the “Anti-junta Alliance Yangon” protest group said.
Paing Phyo Min had not been heard from since, he said, adding, “We are very concerned about his life and safety.”
Amnesty International said it understood Paing Phyo Min and Shein Wai Aung, another activist, “were arrested on 9 October and sent to an interrogation center.”
Shein Wai Aung and his father, mother and sister were all uncontactable, Amnesty said.
Junta authorities in Yangon were not immediately reachable when contacted by AFP.
In 2019, under the quasi-civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi, Paing Phyo Min was jailed for six years for performing a satirical poem criticizing the military.
The sentence sparked criticism from rights group Amnesty International and he was released in 2021, according to the watchdog.
Following the military’s 2021 ouster of Suu Kyi’s government, Paing Phyo Min helped organize pro-democracy demonstrations in Yangon that were later crushed by security forces.
The junta maintains a widespread network of informants and undercover police in Yangon and has largely squashed open challenges to its rule in the city of around eight million.
“The Myanmar military must urgently account for the whereabouts and wellbeing of Paing Phyo Min and of Shein Wai Aung and his family,” Amnesty’s Myanmar researcher Joe Freeman said.
“Unless they can be charged with an internationally recognized crime, they must be immediately and unconditionally released.”
More than 27,000 people have been arrested by the junta in its crackdown on dissent since the coup, according to a local monitoring group.
“Protesting in Myanmar today is not the same as it was before the coup. Anyone involved in any kind of dissent against the military faces long jail terms, torture and other ill-treatment, and even death in custody,” Freeman said.
Security forces have used torture and sexual violence in their crackdown on dissent, according to rights groups, and the United Nations rights office said in 2022 at least 290 people had died in custody.