The High Court (HC) on Tuesday rejected the bail petition of four convicts in a case over the attack on the motorcade of then opposition leader Sheikh Hasina in Satkhira in 2002. The four convicts are- Md Yasin Ali, Md Tofajjal Hossain, Md Abdus Sattar and Advocate Abdus Sattar. The HC bench of Justice ASM Abdul Mobin and Justice Md Atoar Rahman passed the order. The court also sought the documents of the case after suspending their fine. Read:HC calls Teknaf UNO ‘wrongheaded’ over verbal abuse of journalists On August 30 of 2002, a group of terrorists attacked the convoy of then opposition leader Sheikh Hasina in front of Kalaroa Upazila BNP office in Satkhira on her way to Magura after visiting a freedom fighter’s wife at Sadar Hospital. In 2015, a chargesheet was submitted to the court in the case. On February 4 last year, Satkhira Chief Judicial Magistrate Court sentenced three people including former lawmaker Habibul Islam Habib to 10-year imprisonment and 47 others to different jail terms in the case.

Japanese bid their final goodbye to former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday as a family funeral was held at a temple days after his assassination that shocked the nation. Abe, the country's longest-serving prime minister who remained influential even after he stepped down two years ago, was gunned down Friday during a campaign speech in the western city of Nara. Hundreds of people, some in formal dark suits, filled pedestrian walks outside of the Zojoji temple in downtown Tokyo to bid farewell to Abe, whose nationalistic views drove the governing party's ultraconservative policies. Mourners waved, took photos on their smartphones, and some called out “Abe san!” as a motorcade including a hearse carrying his body, accompanied by his widow slowly drove by the packed crowd. Akie Abe was seen lowering her head to the crowd. Read: Key moments in life of Shinzo Abe, former Japanese leader Only she and other close family members, as well as Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and senior party leaders, attended the funeral at the temple. The hearse made a tour of Tokyo's main political headquarters of Nagata-cho, where Abe spent more than three decades since he was first elected in 1991. It then drove slowly by the party headquarters, where senior party lawmakers in dark suits stood outside and prayed, before heading to the prime minister's office, where Abe served a total of nearly a decade. Kishida and his Cabinet members pressed their hands before their chest as they prayed and bowed to Abe's body inside before the hearse headed to a crematorium. On Sunday, two days after Abe's shocking death, his governing Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner won a landslide victory in the upper house, the less powerful of Japan's two-chamber parliament. That could allow Kishida to govern uninterrupted until a scheduled election in 2025, but the loss of Abe also opened up a period of uncertainly for his party. Experts say a power struggle within the party faction Abe led is certain and could affect Kishida's grip on power. Kishida has stressed the importance of party unity after Abe's death. In a country where gun crime is vanishingly rare, Abe’s shooting also shook the nation known as the world's safest and have some of the strictest gun laws in the world. Read: Abe’s complicated legacy looms large for current Japan PM The suspect, Tetsyua Yamagami, was arrested on the spot Friday and is being detained at a local prosecutors’ office for further investigation. They can detain him for up to three weeks while deciding whether to formally press charges. On Tuesday, public security chief Satoshi Ninoyu told reporters he has instructed the National Police Agency to investigate security for political and business leaders. Abe, the son of an earlier prime minister, became Japan's youngest prime minister in 2006 at age 52. He left after a year in office due to health reasons but returned to power in 2012. He vowed to revitalize the nation and get its economy out of its deflationary doldrums with his “Abenomics” formula, which combines fiscal stimulus, monetary easing and structural reforms. His long-cherished goals, held by other ultraconservatives, were to revise Japan's pacifist constitution drafted by the United States during its postwar and to transform Japan's Self Defense Force to a full-fledged military. Abe became Japan's longest-serving leader before leaving office in 2020, citing a recurrence of the ulcerative colitis he'd had since he was a teenager. He was 67.

The assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in broad daylight Friday shocked a world that has come to associate Japan with relatively low crime and strict gun control. Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, Abe was shot in the back while campaigning in the city of Nara for parliamentary candidates. He died at a hospital, two days before the election. The suspect apparently circumvented the nation's ultra-tight gun regulations by building his own weapon. Police said the 15-inch (40-centimeter) device was obviously homemade, and one expert compared it to a muzzle-loading gun. Authorities confiscated similar weapons when they raided the suspect's nearby one-room apartment. The motive of the man, who was taken into custody at the scene, remained unclear. Fatal gun violence is virtually unheard of in Japan, and most Japanese go through life without ever handling, or even seeing, a real gun. Stabbings are more common in killings. Major universities have rifle clubs, and Japanese police are armed, but gun ownership rights have been a distant issue for decades. Even police rarely resort to firing their pistols. With a population of 125 million, the country had just 10 gun-related criminal cases last year, resulting in a single death and four injuries, according to police. Eight of those cases were gang-related. Read: PM conveys condolences at losing 'statesman' Abe The densely populated capital of Tokyo had zero gun incidents, injuries or deaths during that same year, although 61 guns were seized there. "Japanese people are in a state of shock,” said Shiro Kawamoto, professor at the College of Risk Management at Nihon University in Tokyo. “This serves as a wake-up call that gun violence can happen in Japan, and security to protect Japanese politicians must be re-examined,” Kawamoto said. “To assume this kind of attack will never happen would be a big mistake.” Abe’s security team may face serious questions. But because such attacks are extraordinary in Japan, relatively light security is the norm, even for former prime ministers. In remarks in Washington, U.S. President Joe Biden described the “profound impact” of the shooting “on the psyche of the Japanese people.” “This is a different culture — they’re not used to" gun violence “as unfortunately we are. Here in the United States, we know how deep the wounds of gun violence go from communities that are affected. And this assassination is a tragedy that all the people of Japan are feeling.” Japan's last high-profile shooting occurred in 2019, when a former gang member was shot at a karaoke venue in Tokyo. Under Japanese law, possession of firearms is illegal without a special license. Importing them is also illegal. The same rules apply to some kinds of knives and certain other weapons, like crossbows. People who wish to own firearms must go through a stringent background check, including clearance by a doctor, and declare information about family members. They must also pass tests to show they know how to use guns correctly. Those who pass and purchase a weapon must also buy a special locking system for it at the same time. Passing those hurdles will allow a license holder to shoot at clay targets. Hunting requires an additional license. The weapon used in the attack on Abe was probably a “craft-made” firearm, according to N.R. Jenzen-Jones, the director of Armament Research Services, a specialist arms investigations firm. He compared the weapon to a musket in which the gunpowder is loaded separately from the bullet. Also read: Shinzo Abe, powerful former Japan PM, leaves divided legacy “Firearms legislation in Japan is very restrictive, so I think what we’re seeing here, with what’s probably a muzzle-loading weapon, is not just an attempt to circumvent the control of firearms, but also the strict control of ammunition in Japan,” he said.

The office of Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry issued its first public statement Thursday about evidence authorities say they have of phone calls between him and a key suspect in the presidential assassination, saying he received countless calls from people concerned for his safety following the slaying. The office said it is unable to identify all those who called him or determine the nature of the conversations, noting that Henry couldn’t take all the calls. “After an act of such gravity, many people naturally wanted to inquire about his situation,” the office said, referring to the July 7 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. Former Port-au-Prince chief prosecutor Bed-Ford Claude, whom Henry dismissed this week, invited the prime minister to meet with him to talk about two calls between him and Joseph Badio that took place just hours after Moïse was killed. Also read: Mystery grows with key suspect in Haiti president killing Badio once worked for Haiti’s Ministry of Justice and at the government’s anti-corruption unit until he was fired in May amid accusations of violating unspecified ethical rules. Police say they are looking for him on charges including murder. Claude said evidence shows that Badio was in the vicinity of Moïse’s home when the calls were made, and on Tuesday, just hours before he was fired, Claude asked the judge in the case to charge Henry. The prime minister’s office said political interests do not allow anyone to make “serious and baseless innuendos, much less to attempt to hand someone over to popular retribution.” It added: “Conversations with individuals against whom charges are laid cannot, in any case, be used to incriminate anyone.” The office also said Henry is doing his utmost to identify all those involved and bring them to justice: “Nothing will distract him from this goal. It is a duty to the memory of the president, his family and the Haitian people.” Moïse had selected Henry as prime minister shortly before he was killed, and he assumed the position a couple weeks after the assassination. Also read: Haiti's interim prime minister to step down Henry’s office issued the statement hours after Haiti’s new justice minister pledged to find those responsible for high-profile killings as he spoke publicly for the first time since taking over from his predecessor, whom Henry also fired this week. Justice Minister Liszt Quitel said he is prioritizing the killings of Moïse and Monferrier Dorval, head of Port-au-Prince’s Bar Association, who was killed at his home last August. Quitel also said he aims to fight gangs and reduce lengthy pretrial detentions, with thousands of people languishing in prison for years without a single hearing. “There is no more room for distraction or diversion, confusion and petty infighting,” he said. “The task is immense.” Quitel takes over the position from former Justice Minister Rockfeller Vincent, whom Henry dismissed a day after he fired Port-au-Prince’s chief prosecutor earlier this week for an undefined “serious administrative fault.” Quitel only briefly mentioned Moïse’s killing in his speech as he promised to establish coherence and harmony between Haiti’s judicial and executive powers. “We are living in difficult times with pressing needs for justice and security,” he said. Quitel is one of three new officials taking over top government positions in Haiti this week. Claude was replaced by prosecutor Frantz Louis Juste, while Renald Lubérice, who served as secretary general for Haiti’s Council of Ministers, resigned on Wednesday, saying he could not serve under Henry and accused him of obstructing justice. He was replaced by Josué Pierre Louis. The abrupt firings and resignation have led some to question the future of the Tèt Kale party in power as the investigation into Moïse’s killing continues while Haiti prepares for legislative and presidential elections scheduled for early November. “It feels like whatever the outcome of the investigation, this is obviously a break between key figures,” said Laurent Dubois, a Haiti expert and Duke University professor. “It might create cracks for other political actors to move in.” Dubois said he wonders whether those around Henry will support him or distance themselves from him in the near future, deepening Haiti’s political instability as it not only tries to recover from the assassination but from an Aug. 14 earthquake that killed more than 2,200 people. “If they feel he’s kind of going down, they don’t want to be next to him when it happens,” Dubois said. Shortly after resigning, Lubérice, the former council of minister’s secretary general, helped found a political movement called “Gathering of Jovenelists for Democracy,” which aims to find justice for Moïse. Among those in the group is Claude Joseph, the former prime minister who led the country after the assassination until Henry was installed. Among those calling for Henry to step down is Haiti's ombudsman-like Office of Citizen Protection, which also urged the international community to stop supporting him. However, the Core Group, composed of ambassadors from Germany, Brazil, Canada, Spain, the U.S., France, the European Union and representatives from the United Nations and the Organization of American States, issued a statement on Wednesday evening saying it supports efforts by Henry and other political leaders to form an inclusive government.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday said Sheikh Kamal used to lead a very simple life but faced a malicious campaign after surviving a futile assassination attempt in 1974. “Kamal was shot on December 16, 1974 following a conspiracy. An ill-attempt was made to kill him. When he survived it, various negative campaigns were carried out against him,” she said. The prime minister said this while addressing a function arranged to confer Sheikh Kamal National Sports Council (NSC) Award-2021 on its recipients marking the 72nd birth anniversary of Shaheed Sheikh Kamal. Read: 10 sports personalities, 2 organisations receive Sheikh Kamal Sports Award Hasina joined the function, held at Shaheed Sheikh Kamal Auditorium of the National Sports Council, through a virtual platform from her official residence Ganobhaban. The prime minister said Sheikh Kamal had led a very simple life despite being a son of the President, Prime Minister or Father of the Nation. “Though his father was the Prime Minister or the President, he never had any intention to make money and wealth or build a business,” she said. His biggest passion was to develop the country’s educational institutions and improve cultural and sports arenas, said Hasina recollecting the contributions of her younger brother to different sectors, particularly sports. Kamal had played a sincere role in modernizing football, cricket and the sports sector. “He had made tangible contributions to the field of music, too. As a Dhaka University student, he had a lot of contributions to our society,” she said. His biggest goal was to reorganise the young generation, motivate them to love the country and work in the interest of the country. “Had he been alive (for a long) he could have done a lot of work for the country’s young generation,” she said. Describing Kamal as a versatile man, Hasina said he had a good sense of responsibility and dutifulness, and he played various games like football, cricket and hockey in addition to founding Abahani Krira Chakra. Alongside sports, he was very good in drama, song and extempore activity, and established Spondon Shilpi Gosthi. Read: NSC to introduce Sheikh Kamal National Sports Council Award this year About his organisational competence, the prime minister said Kamal played a very active role in different movements and struggles after the Six-Point Demand was placed in 1966, conducted a campaign competently before the 1970 election.  

Monno International School & College here on Wednesday celebrated the 91st birth anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.