Jail
Prothom Alo journalist Shams denied bail, sent to jail
A Dhaka court on Thursday (March 30, 2023) sent Prothom Alo reporter Shamsuzzaman Shams to jail in a case filed under the Digital Security Act after rejecting his bail petition.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate of Dhaka Md Tofazzal Hossain turned down the bail petition.
Earlier, Ramna Model Police Station Inspector Abu Ansar, also investigating officer of the case, requested the court for sending him to jail when Shams was produced before the court.
Read More: CID arrested Prothom Alo journalist Shamsuzzan in a case: Home Minister
Proshanto Kumar Karmakar, lawyer of Shamsuzzaman, appeared for the bail plea.
On March 29, Criminal Investigation Department (CID) men in plainclothes picked up Shams from his residence in Ambagan area, adjacent to Jahangirnagar University, around 4:30 am.
The same day, a Jubo League leader filed a case under the Digital Security Act against Shams, accusing him of publishing a "false and fabricated report" in the daily Prothom Alo.
Read More: Prothom Alo journalist Shams taken to court
'Modi Surname' defamation case: Rahul Gandhi sentenced to 2 years in jail
A court in Gujarat's Surat today (March 23, 2023) found Indian Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi guilty, and sentenced him to two years in prison in a 2019 defamation case -- over his remarks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's surname.
Gandhi was granted bail, however, and his sentence was suspended for 30 days to allow him to appeal the verdict, reports NDTV.
Purnesh Modi, a BJP MLA and former Gujarat minister, filed the lawsuit against Gandhi for saying, "How come all thieves have the surname Modi?"
He made the remark while speaking at a rally in Kolar, Karnataka, ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, targeting PM Modi because of his surname, which he shares with fugitive financiers Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi, said the report.
Read More: Hasina, Modi inaugurate ‘Indo-Bangla Friendship Pipeline’ to boost energy cooperation
The Congress leader quoted Mahatma Gandhi in his first response following the judgement, tweeting in Hindi, "My religion is based on truth and non-violence. Truth is my God, non-violence the means to get it."
Gandhi arrived in Surat earlier in the day for the verdict and was greeted by key Congress leaders from Gujarat.
Posters glorifying him as 'Sher-e-Hindustan' (Lion of India) and banners saying that the "Congress will not bow before the dictatorship of the BJP" were displayed at various spots all over town as a show of strength and support for him.
After his conviction, Rahul Gandhi received rare support from Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal, who tweeted that he "disagreed" with the judgement.
Read More: Tax officials search BBC's Delhi offices weeks after Modi documentary
"A conspiracy is being hatched to eliminate non-BJP leaders and parties by prosecuting them. We have differences with the Congress, but it is not right to implicate Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case like this. It is the job of the public and the opposition to ask questions. We respect the court but disagree with the decision," Kejriwal wrote.
Rahul Gandhi had last appeared in the case before the Surat court in October 2021 to record his statement.
Law Ministry receives petition for extending suspension of Khaleda’s jail term
The Law Ministry on Thursday received a petition seeking another extended suspension of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s jail term sent by the Homer Ministry.
“The Law Ministry has received a file from the Home Ministry regarding the extension of Khaleda Zia's release term by suspending her sentence. We’ll send it back to the Home Ministry with our opinions,” Law Minister Anisul Huq told UNB.
Replying to a question about whether the BNP chief will be allowed to go abroad this time, the minister said, he still did not see the file. “I’ve not received the file yet. So, I can’t tell you what the file contains.”
He, however, said the government first released Khaleda in 2020 with two conditions and her release term was extended several times with those conditions. “I think the previous conditions will also remain this time.”
The BNP Chairperson younger brother Shamim Eskandar submitted a fresh application recently to the Home Ministry seeking a further extension to the suspended jail term of his sister as her release period will end on March 24 next.
In the application, he also urged the government to relax the conditions of the BNP chief’s release and allow her to go abroad for treatment.
In the previous applications, Khaleda’s family also sought permission to send her abroad for medical treatment.
This is the seventh time the BNP chief’s family sought an extension to her suspended jail term. The government accepted all the previous applications but did not give Khaleda permission to go abroad for treatment.
On various occasions, the law minister explained that there was no legal scope to relax the conditions given by the government during Khaleda’s first release through an executive order.
Amid the coronavirus outbreak, the government temporarily freed Khaleda Zia from jail through an executive order by suspending her sentence on March 25, 2020, with conditions that she would stay at her Gulshan house and would not leave the country. Since then, her release term has been extended every six months following the family's plea.
The government has so far extended the convicted former prime minister’s conditional release six times, with the last extension on September 18, 2022.
Khaleda was sent to the Old Dhaka Central Jail as a lower court sentenced her to five years' imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case on February 8, 2018. Later, she was found guilty and convicted in another corruption case the same year.
The 77-year-old BNP chief has been staying at her Gulshan residence since her release in 2020. She also received treatment at Evercare Hospital in the capital six times since she was infected with Covid-19 in April 2021
As per her physicians, Khaleda has been suffering from various ailments, including liver cirrhosis, arthritis, diabetes, kidney, lung, heart, and eye problems.
They have long been saying that the BNP chief needs to receive treatment in any advanced medical centre abroad for her critical diseases, including liver cirrhosis.
Thai man gets 2-year term for calendar said to mock king
A Thai man was sentenced to two years in prison Tuesday for selling calendars featuring satirical cartoons of yellow ducks that a court said mocked the country’s monarch, a legal aid group said.
Bangkok’s Criminal Court ruled that the calendar for 2021 containing pictures of yellow ducks in poses resembled and ridiculed Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn, diminishing his reputation, the group Thai Lawyers for Human Rights said.
Yellow rubber ducks were at one point a tongue-in-cheek symbol of Thailand’s pro-democracy protest movement.
Also Read: Thailand reinstates foreign arrival vaccination requirement
Narathorn Chotmankongsin was charged under Thailand’s lese majeste law, which calls for three to 15 years’ imprisonment for anyone who defames, insults or threatens the king, the queen, the heir apparent or the regent.
The court declared that six illustrations in the calendar were made to mock the king.
The legal aid group said the 26-year-old defendant, whom it identified by the nickname Ton Mai, had his sentence reduced to two years because he cooperated with the court.
Human Rights Watch issued a statement Wednesday asking Thai authorities to “quash the sentence and promptly release Narathorn Chotmankongsin."
Also Read: 50 years of ties with Thailand: Dhaka calls for regional cohesion
“The prosecution and three-year sentence of a man for selling satirical calendars shows that Thai authorities are now trying to punish any activity they deem to be insulting the monarchy,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “This case sends a message to all Thais, and to the rest of the world, that Thailand is moving further away from — not closer to — becoming a rights-respecting democracy.”
The lese majeste law has long drawn criticism for its harshness and a provision allowing anyone to file a complaint, allowing its use for partisan political purposes. In recent years, it has become a focus of pro-democracy activists, who have called for it to be amended or abolished.
Two young female activists seeking its repeal and other judicial reforms are reportedly in critical condition after hunger striking for more than six weeks.
At least 233 people have been charged with lese majeste since November 2020 according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights. Before that, prosecutions had been informally suspended, bThaut they were revived as the protest movement gained strength and made increasingly strong criticisms of the monarchy.
The demands to reform the monarchy have been controversial because by tradition, the institution has been considered untouchable and one of the main foundations of Thai nationalism.
Politics can be done even from jail: Agriculture Minister
Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzaque on Thursday said imprisonment can’t bar idealistic politicians or patriots from doing politics if they want.
“A person can keep in touch even from jail. How can one's politics ever be stopped through imprisonment if the person is an idealistic politician, a patriot?,” he said when reporters drew his attention to the contradictory remarks made by some cabinet members over BNP leader Khaleda Zia’s participation in politics.
Razzaque was talking to reporters following a meeting with a delegation led by Pim Van Stryen, vice-chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation of the Netherlands.
"We have to understand politics no matter what the law is. Had Iran's Khomeini's politics been stopped? Bangabandhu did do politics from jail. Would Bangabandhu have stop doing politics if there was a conviction against him?”
“I said it from that perspective. Politics can be done even in jail. That's what I told you. I say it again,” he added.
"This is how rebels and revolutionists do politics all over the world. Khaleda Zia will not be able contest the election because of the law. But will that stop her political thinking,” said the minister.
When asked why all the cabinet members cannot agree on the matter, the minister remained quiet for a while. He then said, "What are the cabinet colleagues saying? I didn't talk to them about this.”
Read more: AL staging drama over issue of Khaleda's politics with evil motive
“Is Lalu Prasad stopping politics? (Late) Jayalalithaa was also responsible for corruption,” said the minister referring to the Indian politicians convicted and jailed for corruption.
About Awami League MP Sheikh Selim's statement in parliament that Khaleda Zia signed a bond on staying away from politics, Razzaque said, "I do not know whether Khaleda Zia gave such a bond. I know that Tarique Zia (Khaleda’s son) gave it. He gave it to the caretaker government before going abroad.”
When asked why the Awami League brought this issue to the fore 10 months before the election, the AL leader said, "It is not a very important issue. We think the amount of discussion about it is enough. I gave two examples of India.”
2 poachers sentenced to 1 yr for killing 600 birds in Rajshahi
A mobile court in Rajshahi sentenced two poachers to one year in jail for killing at least 600 birds in Charghat upazila of Rajshahi.
Police arrested them with 600 slaughtered birds of different species from the Kakramari Patir Bil area on Wednesday.
The convicted poachers are Abu Bakar Siddiki, 55, and Firoz Hossain, 32.
Tipped off, a team from Charghat police station raided that area and arrested them, said UNO Sohrab Hossain.
Also Read: Two poachers held with venison, animal hides in Bagerhat
According to police, the poachers killed the birds to sell in local hotels and restaurants.
“They were sentenced to one year and fined TK 1 thousand as per the ‘Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Act- 2012’. They were sent to jail,” said the UNO.
The dead birds were sent to a local orphanage.
Embezzlement charge: 3 Ctg surveyors sent to jail
A court here on Monday sent three surveyors of the Chittagong Land Acquisition (LA) department to jail in a case filed over embezzling Tk 1.3 crore.
Chittagong Metropolitan Sessions Judge Dr Begum Jebunnesa passed the order turning down their bail pleas, said Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) PP Advocate Mahmudul Haque Mahmud.
The accused are - Md. Mojibur Rahman, 40, Md. Amanatul Mawla, 36, and Surveyor Ashish Chowdhury, 50, of Rangunia Land Office.
According to court sources, the Chittagong Development Authority acquired the land through the district administration for the implementation of the Outer Ring Road project.
Of this, the authority acquired a total of 0.23 percent of land in the North Patenga area.
The accused used their positions to embezzle Tk 1.13 crore for the acquisition of land.
Later, Assistant Director of Chittagong Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), Zafar Ahmad, filed a case in this regard.
Read more: Industrialist sent to jail over embezzling Tk 18 crore from Sonali Bank in Khulna
66 BNP men sent to jail in 3 sabotage cases in Khulna
A Khulna court on Wednesday sent 66 leaders and activists of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) including the party’s Khulna city unit member secretary Shafiqul Alam Tuhin to jail in three sabotage cases.
Khulna Additional Metropolitan and Sessions Judge SM Ashiqur Rahman passed the order turning down their bail pleas, BNP’s counsel Lawyer Touhidur Rahman Tushar told UNB.
Read more: Simultaneous Movement: BNP rally begins at Dhaka’s Nayapaltan
Khulna Metropolitan BNP convenor Shafiqul Alam Mona alleged that the police filed a case in every police station in Khulna on charges of sabotage to thwart BNP's divisional rally in Dhaka on December 10.
In these cases, about 50 leaders and activists were arrested and imprisoned for a long time while others secured six weeks' anticipatory bail from the High Court.
Meanwhile, hundreds of leaders and activists of BNP and affiliated organisations present on the court premises became agitated following the court order.
Read more: Tenth-grader in Ctg jail after getting picked up at BNP rally
They brought out a procession demanding withdrawal of the ‘false and fabricated cases’, unconditional release of their activists and resignation of the illegal government.
‘Robber met JMB members in jail and became leader of new militant group’
Arrested council (Shura) member and head of the armed wing of a new militant group, Jamatul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya, met JMB militants while in jail on robbery charges and became a top leader of the new group after he was released.
Commander Khandaker Al Moin, director of Rab’s legal and media wing, revealed the information while briefing the media today over the arrest of two members of the new militant group yesterday from a Rohingya camp in Cox’s Bazar.
He said Rab interrogated Masukur Rahman alias Ronobir alias Masud and Bashar after arresting them yesterday and got some important tip-offs.
Ronobir’s associate, Bashar, is a bomb-making expert.
Ronobir used to work at a post office. He also led an armed robbery gang and got arrested.
“During his time in prison, he met the leaders and activists of JMB and decided to join forces with them,” said the Rab officer.
Also Read: 2 ‘militants’ arrested from Kutupalong Rohingya camp after 'gunfight’, Rab says
He continued to visit JMB members in jail after his release. He had contact with their families too, he added.
In 2017, he met Rakib, a Shura member and later head of Jamatul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya’s finance and media wing, and became a founding member.
Members of Rab yesterday (January 23, 2023) arrested Ronobir and Bashar after a gunfight at Kutupalong Rohingya camp in Ukhia upazila of Cox's Bazar.
Rab arrested the duo along with arms and explosives from a den in the camp following the gunfight.
BNP’s Salam, Annie freed from jail
BNP leaders Abdus Salam and Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Annie were freed from jail on bail on Wednesday evening.
They walked out of Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj around 6 pm after the bail order reached the jail authorities, said BNP’s media cell member Sayrul Kabir Khan.
Read more: Nayapaltan clash: BNP’s Salam, Annie get 6-month interim bail
Leaders and activists of BNP's Dhaka Metropolitan South received them at the jail gate.
On January 16, the High Court granted BNP's Dhaka Metropolitan South convener Abdus Salam and publication secretary Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Annie six months’ interim bail in a case over the clash between police and the party activists in the capital’s Nayapaltan.
On December 7 last year, a Swechchasebak Dal leader was killed and around 50 others were injured in a clash between police and the BNP activists in front of the party’s Nayapaltan central office, ahead of its December 10 rally.
Police arrested 470 BNP activists and leaders in connection with the clash and they were sued in two cases filed with Paltan and Motijheel police stations.
Read more: Nayapaltan clash: 445 BNP activists including Rizvi, Annie sent to jail, 2 get bail
Abdus Salam and Annie were arrested on the same day following the clash.
A Dhaka court sent 445 BNP leaders and activists including Annie and Salam to jail in two cases filed over the violence and order to give division in jail to the five leaders on the following day.
Party’s Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, Chairperson’s Special Assistant Shimul Biswash, Joint Secretary General Khairul Kabir Khokon, former organizational secretary Fazlul Haque Milon, Co-Organisational Secretary Selimuzzaman, are among others who were sent to jail in the case.