Law
week
Babar was in thick of things
Lutfozzaman Babar, in collusion with former deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu and his brother Moulana Tajuddin, used banned Harkatul Jihad al Islami (Huji) to execute the August 21 grenade attack, said Criminal Investigation Department (CID) sources. Former BNP state minister for home Babar, who was taken on a fresh remand for four days, disclosed it during the five-day interrogation by the CID investigators. -The Daily Star, Nov 5, 2009.
PM pledges retrial
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said her government would seek retrial of the case filed for assassinating four national leaders. Hasina accused former president Ziaur Rahman and her wife Khaleda Zia of rewarding the killers of the four leaders while addressing a discussion at Bangabandhu International Convention Centre in the capital marking the Jail Killing Day.
-The Daily Star, Nov 4, 2009.
IGP gets 48hrs to save Turag
The High Court directed the inspector general of police to stop within 48 hours earth filling and encroachment on the Turag river. The HC also directed the authorities concerned to take effective steps to protect the Buriganga, Turag, Balu and Shitalakhya from grabbers until the ongoing cadastral survey of the rivers is completed as per its previous orders. Some video footage on illegal earth filling, encroachments and extraction of sand by dredging at several points of the rivers was submitted to the HC recently. -The Daily Star, Nov 4, 2009.
Huji founder Salam held
The Criminal Investigation Department arrested Moulana Sheikh Abdus Salam, founder of banned Islamist group Harkatul Jihad al Islami (Huji), for suspected links with the August 21 grenade blasts. A Dhaka court placed the arrestee on a six-day remand. The detention comes a week after former BNP state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar was shown arrested in the case filed for the blasts. Queried, CID officials did not give the exact time and place of Salam's arrest. They only said they picked him up from the city. -The Daily Star, Nov 3, 2009.
Vested property to be returned
The cabinet gave final nod to the Vested Property Return (Amendment) Bill, 2009 paving the way to turn the seized property over to the real owners from the Hindus. The approval came at a regular meeting at the Cabinet Division at the Secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair. Hasina at the meeting also directed the home ministry to arrest the culprits responsible for the bomb attack on AL lawmaker Fazle Noor Taposh and unrest in the RMG sector. -The Daily Star, Nov 3, 2009.
HC rightly upheld death penalties
Chief counsel for the state in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman murder case, Advocate Anisul Huq, told the Appellate Division of Supreme Court that the third judge of the High Court had lawfully and rightly upheld the lower court's convictions and death sentences of 12 convicts in the case. The nation wants to find a closure of a dark episode through the trial's conclusion. The bloody events of August 15, 1975 not only changed the lives of the bereaved family members, but altered the nation's course of history, he said. -The Daily Star, Nov 3, 2009.
Bill seeks to drop experience clause
A bill was placed in parliament seeking amendment to the Public Procurement Act to drop the provision of past experience as a condition for getting public work contracts worth up to Tk 2 crore. Planning Minister Air Vice Marshall (retd) AK Khandker placed the bill with a proposal for a few amendments to the act terming it essential for smooth enforcement of the law. The bill was sent to the parliamentary standing committee on planning ministry for scrutiny and placing report in parliament in two days. -The Daily Star, Nov 2, 2009.
West backs trial, int'l norms
Western diplomats remain concerned that unless the government further amends the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act 1973, the trials of war criminals may not meet the minimum international standards of due process and fairness. The concern was expressed to The Daily Star by diplomats supportive of the Bangladesh government's decision to hold trials of people alleged to have committed war crimes during the 1971 War of Independence. These views appear to contradict Law Minister Shafique Ahmed's repeated statements that that the current law is sufficient to meet international expectations. -The Daily Star, Nov 2, 2009.
Bill placed in JS to curb TU rights
The government placed a bill in parliament seeking to amend the Bangladesh Labour Act 2006 to limit the number of trade unions at the Chittagong and Mongla ports for ensuring better management. Labour and Employment Minister Eng Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain placed the bill, which was sent to the parliamentary standing committee on the ministry concerned for scrutiny and placing report in parliament. Once the proposed law is enforced, employees of the ports will be allowed to collectively form only one trade body at their work places.
-The Daily Star, Nov 2, 2009.
Govt to probe all extra-judicial killings: Minister
The government will investigate all cases of extra-judicial killings and try them, Law Minister Shafique Ahmed said. The present government is against any kind of extra-judicial killing and committed to protect the fundamental human rights of people, he said, adding that the government in its nine months in power has taken many steps to implement these commitments. Addressing as chief guest at the inauguration of a pilot scheme titled "Human Rights Training for Law Officers and Legal Practitioners" at Hotel Sonargaon, he said the government would hold trials for crimes against humanity that took place since 1971 to 1975 in the country. -The Daily Star, Nov 1, 2009.
Cabinet decides on future BDR trial
A draft of the gazette notification, which states any future mutiny and other offences in Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) will be tried under the Army Act, will be placed in the cabinet for approval. “We have decided to put forward the matter to the next cabinet for approval considering its importance,” Shafique Ahmed, minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, told The Daily Star after a meeting at his Indira Road residence. He said the BDR mutiny trial will begin next week with the formation of six separate courts across the country by the border force authorities. “The BDR director general will be the head of the courts,” he said, adding everything for the trial has been finalised. -The Daily Star, Oct 31, 2009.
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