5
lawyers sued in Kushtia
Five
lawyers including the general secretary of Kushtia Bar Association have
been sued for abusing a judge, ransacking a courtroom and threatening
its staff with death. The accused lawyers are Advocate Zahurul Islam,
general secretary of the bar, Saiful Islam Bappi, Wazedul Islam Chand,
Subrata Kumar and Tarun Kumar Biswas.
Mehidi Hasan Sidique,
bench assistant of the court, filed a case against the accused with
Kushtia Police Station. He said in the case that some advocates led
by Zahurul appealed to the Women and Children Repression Prevention
Tribunal for bail of Siddiqur Rahman, an accused of rape.
As
Judge Abul Hossain rejected the bail and left the courtroom, the lawyers
reportedly having links with the ruling BNP abused him, ransacked furniture
and beat up staff who tried to calm them. The lawyers also threatened
to kill the staff, the complainant said. The Daily Star, October
12.
Ex-CJ,
German envoy cross swords
Former chief justice Mustafa Kamal said France and Germany
have 'no moral right' to discuss religious militancy in this region,
prompting a war of words with German Ambassador in Dhaka Dietrich Andreas
at a seminar.
Kamal made the remarks
as the chair at a session of the seminar on "Religious Militancy
and Security in South Asia" at Bangladesh Institute of International
and Strategic Studies (Biiss) auditorium. Andreas who was a participant
in the session replied to a series of accusations against Germany and
France made by the former chief justice. The four-day seminar is organised
by Biiss in collaboration with the German and French embassies in Dhaka.
"I am not worried
about inter-state relations in South Asia. I am more worried about the
western perception of a rise in religious militancy in militarily weak
countries like Bangladesh but not in big countries like India,"
Kamal said at the session on "Religious Militancy and Inter-State
Relations in South Asia".
Responding
to Kamal's remarks immediately, the German ambassador said, "We
want to increase understanding and dialogue between cultures and countries
...We are always open to questions about the state of minorities in
our society." The Daily Star, October 12.
Pro-govt lawyers blame SC Bar
Supreme Court Bar Association has no legal or constitutional
mandate to discard the judicial probe report on the August 21 grenade
attack on Awami League rally, said the pro-government lawyers at a press
conference yesterday. Similarly, the association is not authorised to
carry out another parallel investigation into the massacre, they said
at the conference organised under the banner of Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi
Oikya Parishad.
The judicial inquiry
committee was constituted under the law of the land and it acted like
a civil court. There is no question to reject the report of this committee,
said Advocate Mahbubur Rahman MP. Lawyers in general have not empowered
the Bar association to accept or reject the commission report, he added.
The
probe committee, formed by a section of lawyers in the name of the bar
association, is motivated by a certain political party and has no legal
basis, said Advocate Zainul Abedin, legal affairs secretary of the ruling
BNP's central committee while reading out a written statement. The
Daily Star, October 12.
Concern
at torture in custody
Speakers at a seminar yesterday expressed grave concern at
the torture in police custody and the death of arrestees in crossfire.
They said only reform in judicial system could play the pivotal role
in checking these events.
The seminar on 'Criminal
responsibility for torture: South Asian perspective ' was organised
by Odhikar, a human rights organisation, in the city. While speaking
at the inaugural session, Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister
Moudud Ahmed and former Awami League law minister Abdul Matin Khasru
were engaged in a debate on the death of arrested persons at Rab (Rapid
Action Battalion) custody and torture of detainees at police custody.
Citing the examples
of Ahsanullah Master killing and some bomb blast incidents, Khasru said
the government issued press note even before the FIR (First Information
Report) was lodged. Such kind of practice by the government leads the
investigation to a wrong direction, he added.
The law minister
said there should be separate body of police to investigate the cases.
Former chief justice
K M Hasan said it would be pathetic if law-enforcing agencies engage
themselves in torture in the name of justice.
Presided
over by Odhikar President Tasneem Siddique, the inaugural session was
also addressed by Dr Asif Nazrul of Dhaka University. The Daily
Star, October 12.
Tougher
anti-terrorism law if need
Prime Minister Khaleda Zia sought unwavering support of people
for continuing present trend of success of her government in the next
two years through more advances in poverty alleviation, improving quality
of people's life and moving on with the campaign against terrorism.
The Prime Minister urged the opposition to shun the politics of gambling
and pursue the politics of ballots instead. Khaleda also cautioned that
her government would not hold back from framing more stringent laws
similar to that of other developed democratic countries of the world
for eliminating terrorism and ensuring peace and security of public
life.
The
Prime Minister said the criminals responsible for the August 21 incident
must be found out so that such incidents do not occur again. She said
all possible measures have been taken by the government to track down
the perpetrators. BSS October 11.
Activities
of Rab will bring catastrophe
Rights groups accused the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) of violating
the constitution, laws to deal with crimes and human rights through
extra-judicial killings in custody and 'crossfire.' They also put forward
a five-point demand to ensure trial of the killings by the law- enforcement
agencies and put an end to their human-rights violation. At a press
conference in Dhaka leaders of the organisations alleged the amendments
to the Armed Police Battalion Ordinance 1979 created a scope for making
political gains.
The amendments empowered
Rab to conduct intelligence operations on crimes and incidents related
to crimes and investigate any case when the government orders, the rights
bodies said. But the amendments did not give the elite anticrime force
authority to investigate any case; instead, the force is to probe only
the government-assigned cases, they stressed. The groups include Ain
O Salish Kendra (ASK), Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (Blast),
Nijera Kori, Karmajibi Nari, Jatiya Ainjibi Parishad and Naripakkhya.
Rab
is not only violating the constitution, Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC)
and police ordinance but also human rights through extra-judicial killings
either in custody or in 'crossfire' in most of the cases, the groups
alleged. They also expressed concern at the killing of the innocent
people like Mohammad Ali and Sumon Majumder. Prothom Alo October
14.
