DHAKA: Bangladesh’s High Court on Sunday acquitted former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s son, Tarique Rahman, and overturned a verdict against him over a deadly 2004 grenade attack on a political rally.
The ruling comes at a critical time as the South Asian country suffers political tension after long-time Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country to India in August following a mass uprising that left hundreds dead. Rahman serves as the acting chairperson of Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party while in self-exile in London, and he could become Bangladesh’s next leader if his party is voted into power.
Rahman and 48 others were found guilty in 2018 in the attack targeting a rally held by supporters of Sheikh Hasina, who led the opposition at the time, leaving two dozen people dead and wounding about 300 others. A court sentenced 19 of them to death while Rahman got life in prison, with Zia’s party accusing the ruling of being politically motivated.
A two-member judge panel scrapped Sunday the entire 2018 ruling for all 49 men, following an appeal lodged by the defendants. Shishir Monir, a defense lawyer, told reporters the court declared the trial and verdict “illegal”.
“As a result, all defendants have been acquitted,” he said.
Zia, who ruled the country as prime minister between 2001-2006, and Hasina are the country’s most powerful politicians and long-time rivals.
Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus has been chosen as the country’s interim leader since Hasina’s escape, but authorities have been struggling to enforce order amid mob justice, chaos and claims of systematic targeting of minority groups, particularly Hindus, which Yunus said are “exaggerated.”
Hasina’s Awami League party blasted the court ruling in a Facebook post on Sunday, saying it wasn’t “Yunus’ Kangaroo court” and that the people of Bangladesh would be the ones trying those responsible for the attacks.
Zia’s party welcomed Sunday’s ruling.
The attorney general’s office can appeal the ruling in the country’s Supreme Court.
The Yunus-led government has not declared any timeframe for the next election, but Rahman and his party want the new election sometime soon. Meanwhile, Jamaat-e-Islami party, which shared power with Zia’s party in 2001-2006 with important portfolios in the Cabinet, said it wants to allow the Yunus-led government to stay in power to bring in reforms in various sectors before a new election.
Hasina faces charges of crimes against humanity for deaths during the summer’s student-led uprising. The interim government has sought help from Interpol to arrest Hasina. It is not clear if India will respond to any request from Bangladesh for Hasina’s extradition under a mutual treaty.
Bangladesh court acquits ex-PM Khaleda Zia’s son in 2004 deadly grenade attack
https://arab.news/6r4j7
Bangladesh court acquits ex-PM Khaleda Zia’s son in 2004 deadly grenade attack
- Tarique Rahman, others were found guilty in 2018 of targeting a rally held by supporters of PM Sheikh Hasina, who led opposition at the time
- The ruling comes as the country suffers political tension after Hasina fled to India in August following a mass uprising that killed hundreds
Second doctor in Matthew Perry overdose case sentenced to home confinement
- Dr. Mark Chavez, 55, a onetime San Diego-based physician, pleaded guilty in federal court in October
- Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett also sentenced Chavez to 300 hours of community service
LOS ANGELES: A second California doctor was sentenced on Tuesday to eight months of home confinement for illegally supplying “Friends” star Matthew Perry with ketamine, the powerful sedative that caused the actor’s fatal drug overdose in a hot tub in 2023.
Dr. Mark Chavez, 55, a onetime San Diego-based physician, pleaded guilty in federal court in October to a single felony count of conspiracy to distribute the prescription anesthetic and surrendered his medical license in November.
Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett also sentenced Chavez to 300 hours of community service. As part of his plea agreement, Chavez admitted to selling ketamine to another physician Dr. Salvador Plasencia, 44, who in turn supplied the drug to Perry, though not the dose that ultimately killed the performer. Plasencia, who pleaded guilty to four counts of unlawful drug distribution, was sentenced earlier this month to 2 1/2 years behind bars.
He and Chavez were the first two of five people convicted in connection with Perry’s ketamine-induced death to be sent off to prison.
The three others scheduled to be sentenced in the coming weeks — Jasveen Sangha, 42, a drug dealer known as the “Ketamine Queen;” a go-between dealer Erik Fleming, 56; and Perry’s former personal assistant, Iwamasa, 60.
Sangha admitted to supplying the ketamine dose that killed Perry, and Iwamasa acknowledged injecting Perry with it. It was Iwamasa who later found Perry, aged 54, face down and lifeless, in the jacuzzi of his Los Angeles home on October 28, 2023.
An autopsy report concluded the actor died from the acute effects of ketamine,” which combined with other factors in causing him to lose consciousness and drown.
Perry had publicly acknowledged decades of substance abuse, including the years he starred as Chandler Bing on the hit 1990s NBC television series “Friends.”
According to federal law enforcement officials, Perry had been receiving ketamine infusions for treatment of depression and anxiety at a clinic where he became addicted to the drug.
When doctors there refused to increase his dosage, he turned to unscrupulous providers elsewhere willing to exploit Perry’s drug dependency as a way to make quick money, authorities said. Ketamine is a short-acting anesthetic with hallucinogenic properties that is sometimes prescribed to treat depression and other psychiatric disorders. It also has seen widespread abuse as an illicit party drug.
