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.

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 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.

A Dhaka court on Monday sent Islamic preacher Mufti Kazi Ibrahim to jail in a case filed under the Digital Security Act. Dhaka Cyber Tribunal Judge AKM Zulfiker Hayat passed the order when he confessed to his guilty before the court. Advocate Nazrul Islam, a counsel of the state, said the court was scheduled to frame charges against Mufti Ibrahim but he made a confession before the court. Later, the court sent him jail for giving false and instigating statements. Also Read: Mufti Ibrahim sued under DSA  Police arrested preacher Mufti Kazi Ibrahim from his Mohammadpur residence on September 28, 2021 and since then he remained behind the bars. Police submitted chargesheet against him in the case. On September 29, 2021, a case was filed against Mufti Ibrahim under the Digital Security Act. Mohammad Abdul Latif, officer-in-charge of Mohammadpur Police Station filed the case on with the police station following an allegation of DB-Cyber and Special Crime Department. The web-based crime investigation team of the Intelligence Department of Dhaka Metropolitan Police found some video clips of the preacher on social networking sites where he gave controversial statements.      

“No amnesty! No amnesty! No amnesty!” The chant reverberated off the walls of the jam-packed hall at the University of Sao Paulo’s law college on Monday afternoon. Within hours, it was the rallying cry for thousands of Brazilians who streamed into the streets of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, penned on protest posters and banners. The words are a demand for retribution against the supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro who stormed Brazil’s capital Sunday, and those who enabled the rampage. “These people need to be punished, the people who ordered it need to be punished, those who gave money for it need to be punished,” Bety Amin, a 61-year-old therapist, said on Sao Paulo’s main boulevard. The word “DEMOCRACY” stretched across the back of her shirt. “They don’t represent Brazil. We represent Brazil.” Protesters' push for accountability evokes memories of an amnesty law that for decades has protected military members accused of abuse and murder during the country's 1964-85 dictatorship. A 2014 truth commission report sparked debate over how Brazil has grappled with the regime's legacy. Declining to mete out punishment “can avoid tensions at the moment, but perpetuates instability,” Luis Felipe Miguel, a professor of political science at the University of Brasilia, wrote in a column entitled “No Amnesty” published Monday evening. “That is the lesson we should have learned from the end of the military dictatorship, when Brazil opted not to punish the regime’s killers and torturers.” Brazilian police on Monday had already rounded up roughly 1,500 rioters. Some were caught in the act of trashing Brazil's Congress, the Supreme Court and the presidential palace. Most were detained the following morning at an encampment in Brasilia. Many were held in a gymnasium throughout the day, and video shared on pro-Bolsonaro social media channels showed some complaining about poor treatment in the crowded space. Hundreds of elderly and sick detainees were released Tuesday after they were questioned and had their phones inspected, local media O Globo reported. The Federal Police’s press office told The Associated Press that the force plans to indict at least 1,000 people. As of early afternoon, 447 people had been transfered to either a detention center or prison, according to a bulletin from the federal district’s penitenciary administration. The administration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva says jailing the rioters is only the start. Justice minister Flávio Dino vowed to prosecute those who acted behind the scenes to summon supporters on social media and finance their transport on charges involving organized crime, staging a coup, and violent abolition of the democratic rule of law. Authorities also are investigating allegations that local security personnel allowed the destruction to proceed unabated. “We cannot and will not compromise in fulfilling our legal duties," Dino said. "This fulfillment is essential so such events do not repeat themselves.” Lula signed a decree, now approved by both houses of Congress, ordering the federal government to assume control of security in the capital. Read more: Brazil election: Lula defeats Bolsonaro to become president again Far-right elements have refused to accept Bolsonaro’s electoral defeat. Since his Oct. 30 loss, they have camped outside military barracks in Brasilia, pleading for intervention to allow Bolsonaro to remain in power and oust Lula. When no coup materialized, they rose up themselves. Decked out in the green and yellow of the national flag, they broke windows, toppled furniture and hurled computers and printers to the ground. They punched holes in a massive Emiliano Di Cavalcanti painting at the presidential palace and destroyed other works of art. They overturned the U-shaped table where Supreme Court justices convene, ripped a door off one justice’s office and vandalized a statue outside the court. Hours passed before police expelled the mob. "It's unacceptable what happened yesterday. It's terrorism," Marcelo Menezes, a 59-year-old police officer from northeastern Pernambuco state, said at a protest in Sao Paulo. “I’m here in defense of democracy, I’m here in defense of the people.” Cries of “No amnesty!" were also heard during Lula's Jan. 1 inaugural address, in response to the president detailing the neglect of the outgoing Bolsonaro administration. Bolsonaro, a former army captain, has waxed nostalgic for the dictatorship era, praised a notorious torturer as a hero and said the regime should have gone further in executing communists. His government also commemorated the anniversary of Brazil’s 1964 coup. Political analysts had repeatedly warned that Bolsonaro was laying the groundwork for an insurrection in the mold of that which unfolded in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. For months, he stoked belief among hardcore supporters that the nation’s electronic voting system was prone to fraud — though he never presented any evidence and independent experts disagreed. Results from the election, the closest since Brazil's return to democracy, were quickly recognized by politicians across the spectrum, including some Bolsonaro allies, as well as dozens of other governments. The outgoing president surprised nearly everyone by promptly fading from view, neither conceding defeat nor emphatically crying fraud. He and his party submitted a request to nullify millions of votes, which was swiftly dismissed by the electoral authority. None of that dissuaded his die-hard backers from their conviction that Bolsonaro should still be in power. In the immediate aftermath of the riot, Lula said that the so-called “fascist fanatics” and their financial backers must be held responsible. He also accused Bolsonaro of encouraging the uprising. Bolsonaro denied the president’s accusation Sunday. Writing on Twitter, he said peaceful protest is part of democracy, but vandalism and invasion of public buildings cross the line. Read more: Brazil election body rejects Bolsonaro's push to void votes Authorities are also investigating the role of the federal district's police in either failing to halt protesters' advance or standing aside to let them run amok. Prosecutors in the capital said local security forces were negligent at the very least. A supreme court justice temporarily suspended the regional governor, who oversees the force, for what he termed "willful omission". Another justice blamed authorities across Brazil for not swiftly cracking down on “homegrown neofascism.” The upheaval finally prompted municipal and state governments to disperse the pro-Bolsonaro encampments outside the military barracks. Their tents and tarps were taken down, and residents were sent packing. Meanwhile, pro-democracy protesters want to ensure their message — “No amnesty!” — will be heeded by both the law enforcement authorities and any far-right elements who might dare defy democracy again. “After what happened yesterday, we need to go to the street,” said Marcos Gama, a retiree protesting Monday night in Sao Paulo. “We need to react.”

Finally walking out of jail after a month, BNP secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Monday took a fresh vow to intensify their ongoing movement to oust the government and restore democracy and people’s voting rights in Bangladesh. “The more they will repress us, the more people will burst into anger and defeat them through a movement,” he said. Speaking briefly in front of BNP’s Nayapaltan Central office, he said their party has no option to back down from the movement. “We’ll only move forward with our movement and will free all our arrested leaders and activists. We have to intensify our movement to defeat this regime and our movement will be successful,” he said. Fakhrul said they want to carry out their movement in a peaceful manner. “Let us come forward to free Bangladesh from a fascist and autocratic rule and restore democracy and people’s voting rights. After coming out of jail, we are taking a fresh vow that we’ll carry on our movement until we succeed,” he said. The BNP leader said the government will not be able to stop the movement to restore democracy by resorting to mass arrests, injustice, torture, killing, and oppression as people have woken up to get back their rights. “The government has turned the entire country into a jail. Many of our leaders and activists are still staying in prisons. Unfortunately, they are living inhumane lives there. I demand their immediate release,” he said. Fakhrul said the government thought that it would be able to suppress BNP’s movement by arresting its leaders and activists, sending them to jail, ransacking the party office and gunning down the opposition activists. “But the movement intensified. Entire Bangladesh has been rocked by protests. We’ll defeat this fascist regime through a peaceful movement.” He called upon people from all walks of life to make the countrywide sit-in programme on January 11 (Wednesday) a success with their spontaneous participation. Speaking at a programme, BNP standing committee members Mirza Abbas said the government had the plan to create violence at Nayapaltan over BNP’s rally on December 10, but they avoided it. “They (govt) thought we will hold our December 10 rally at Nayapaltan and engage in a clash with police and they will make a political gain by shifting the blame on us for the violence,” he said. The BNP leader further said: “We wanted to hold the rally peacefully avoiding clashes…I was arrested as I did not give the government a chance to create violence at Nayapaltan on December 10. My offense is I did not allow the government to ensue violence. I was arrested as I tried to avoid violence.” Abbas said their party wants to observe their all programmes peacefully in a democratic manner. “I call upon the government not to do anything that may invite violence.” The BNP leader said their party must carry out the movement to save the country and restore people’s voting and other rights. They both expressed their gratitude to the party leaders and workers for carrying out different programmes seeking their release. Fakhrul and Abbas were freed from jail on bail from Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj around 6pm. BNP leaders and activists and the relatives of the two top leaders received the duo at the jail gate. From there, they went straight to BNP's Nayapaltan Central office. Several hundred leaders and activists received Fakhrul and Abbas as they reached the party office around 6:30pm amid various slogans and clapping. On Sunday, the Appellate Division upheld the High Court order granting bail to Fakhrul and party standing committee member Abbas in a case filed over the clash between police and the party activists at Nayapaltan on December 7 last year. The High Court granted six months' bail to Fakhrul and Abbas, in the case on January 3. Earlier on December 9, at the ungodly hour of 3.30am, a team of the Detective Branch (DB) of police picked up Fakhrul and Abbas from their homes in separate raids, a day before the party’s much-talked-about rally in the capital. They were arrested in a case filed by police over a 'clash' between police and the party activists in the capital's Nayapaltan on December 7 centring the rally. A Dhaka court sent them to jail rejecting their bail pleas. The time it took to secure bail for the two senior leaders raised eyebrows in many quarters. BNP, however, went ahead with the rally in the absence of Fakhrul and Abbas and placed a 10-point demand, including the resignation of the current government and holding the next polls under a caretaker government.  

Hundreds of political prisoners in Myanmar were granted amnesty this week, the UN human rights office (OHCHR) said, but thousands more remain incarcerated. "The release of political prisoners in Myanmar is not only a relief to those unfairly detained, but also their families," OHCHR Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence told the media Friday in Geneva. "Importantly, however, we take this opportunity to call for the release of the thousands of others who remain in detention for opposing military rule." To mark the country's 75th anniversary of independence, the military junta which seized power nearly two years ago, announced this week that it would free some 7,000 prisoners. However, it did not specify whether those jailed as part of its brutal crackdown on dissent would be included. The OHCHR spokesperson said the military regime incarcerated some 300 political prisoners. "Even as news emerged about the amnesty to mark the country's independence day, we continued to receive reports of people being detained for opposing military rule, many of whom have been subjected to torture and ill-treatment," he added. Since the military coup of February 1, 2021, nearly 17,000 people have been arrested and over 13,000 remain in detention, Jeremy said. The local monitoring group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners also believes that 300 political prisoners had been released – having identified 223 while working to verify the others. However, the UN official said on the very day that they were released, another 22 political prisoners were detained. "Such detentions are not only intended to silence the junta's critics but are also designed to instil fear." As this year marks the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk has called for an end to arbitrary detention once and for all. The UN rights chief called on governments and all detaining authorities globally to put the milestone Declaration into action by granting an amnesty, pardon or by simply releasing all those detained for exercising their rights. "The pathway out of Myanmar's crisis is not by locking people up – it is by allowing them to freely, fully, and effectively participate in political life," Jeremy said. Read more:On Myanmar’s diamond jubilee of independence, Bangladesh reiterates call for Rohingya repatriation  

A Naogaon court on Wednesday sent nine leaders and activists of BNP and its associate bodies to jail in a case filed under the Explosive Substances Act. Naogaon District and Sessions Judge Abu Shamim Azad passed the order after rejecting their bail petitions. Read more: BNP, 32 parties stage huge showdowns in Dhaka as collective movement takes shape They are Fazle Huda Babul, joint secretary of Badalgachhi upazila unit BNP, vice-president Zakir Hossain Chowdhury, general secretary Abdul Hadi Chowdhury Tipu, office secretary Shahin Hossain, Omar Faruk, Kola union unit BNP, Bidyit Hossain, general secretary of Balubhara union unit BNP, Anwar Hossain, vice-president of Mithapur union unit BNP, Rustom Ali, vice president of Mathurapur union unit Jubo Dal and Dulal Mohri, president of Badalgachhi upazila unit Krishak Dal. According to the case statement, a number of crude bombs were exploded during a rally of Awami League, organised by upazila unit Awami League on Nevember 22. Read more: Main demand of BNP’s 10 points is fall of govt: Mosharraf Sanaul Hossain, President of upazila unit Krishak League lodged a complaint against 18 identified leaders and activists of BNP and 150 unidentified people with Badalgachhi Police Station. Police arrested eight leaders of BNP from the upazila on that day.

Two prisoners died at Chattogram Medical College and Hospital on Sunday. The deceased were identified as Abdus Shukkur, 60 and Rafiqul Islam, 73. Jailer Md Emran Hossain Mia of Chattogram Central Jail, said Abdus Shukkur, a resident of Chandgaon Police Station, fell sick around 12:55 am at the central jail. Read more: 3 JMB men get life imprisonment in arms case in Lalmonirhat  Later, he was taken to the hospital where he died around 1:30 am. Abdus Shukkur was sentenced to two years' imprisonment in a narcotics case on October 17, 2021. Meanwhile, Rafiqul Islam, an under-trial prisoner and resident of Halisohor area, fell sick on Sunday night. He was also sent to Chattogram Medical College and Hospital where he died in the night. Rafiqul was arrested in a case filed over a clash between two groups.

BNP on Thursday alleged that its arrested leaders and activists are being subjected to an ‘inhuman’ attitude in jail. "The leaders and workers at all levels of our party, including the top leaders, in jail are being treated inhumanely,” said party acting office secretary Syed Emran Saleh Prince. Speaking at a press conference at the party’s Nayapaltan central office, he also said although BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Standing Committee member Mirza Abbas and former ministers and MPs were supposed to get the division in jail, they were not given the division in the beginning. Even, Prince said, their party’s ailing Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmad and freedom fighter and former deputy mayor of Dhaka city Abdus Salam were not given the division. He also alleged that BNP top leaders were kept in lock-up for more than 24 hours after their arrest. The BNP leader said most of the party’s arrested leaders and activists are suffering from various complex diseases, including cardiac problems and diabetics, but the jail authorities are not allowing their families to send necessary medicines for them. Read more: Mirza Fakhrul, Abbas should’ve given division in jail earlier: HC  “Even, the necessary clothes can’t reach them (the arrested party leaders) in the jail. Though the families of the inmates are repeatedly taking the necessary items to jail gate, the prison authorities are returning them,” he said. Prince also alleged that most of the jailed leaders are now being allowed to meet their family members. “Even though they are jailed on false and fabricated charges, they are being treated like notorious murderers and criminals, which is a clear violation of the jail code and human rights,” the BNP leader said. He strongly condemned and protested against such abhorrent treatment attitude towards the jailed BNP leaders and activists and demanded that they be given the medical facilities and other benefits they deserve as per the jail code.” On December 7, BNP leaders and activists engaged in a clash with police in front of the party’s Nayapaltan central office centring the party’s December-10 divisional rally in the capital. Read more: Nayapaltan clash: 445 BNP activists including Rizvi, Annie sent to jail, 2 get bail Later, police raided the BNP office and arrested around 450 party leaders and activists from there. The law enforcers also arrested Mirza Fakhrul and Mirza Abbas the following day.