A Rangpur court on Thursday sentenced five people to life imprisonment for raping and murdering a 16-year-old girl in Gangachara upazila in 2015. Rangpur Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal-2 Judge Md Rokonuzzaman gave the order and imposed a Tk1 lakh fine on each of the convicts. The lifers are Abuzar Rahman, 28, Alamgir Hossain, 27, Nazir Hosain, 27, Abdul Karim, 29, and Aminur Rahman, 29, of Narasingha Morneya village of Gangachara. All of them – except Alamgir who is still running away – were present during the judgment. Read: Naogaon: 10, including 5 brothers, get life in prison for 2013 murder According to the case complaint, the 16-year-old girl of Narasingha Morneya and Abuzar formed a romantic attachment. "The girl insisted that they get married as she became pregnant. But Abuzar refused." On May 14, 2015, Abuzar and his associates took the girl to a nearby crop field as her parents were not home. They took turns raping the 16-year-old before killing her by slitting her throat. A case was filed with police in this connection following a complaint received from the girl's father.

A court in military-ruled Myanmar convicted the country’s ousted leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, on two more corruption charges Wednesday, with two three-year sentences to be served concurrently, adding to previous convictions that now leave her with a 26-year total prison term, a legal official said. Suu Kyi, 77, was detained on Feb. 1, 2021, when the military seized power from her elected government. She has denied the allegations against her in this case, in which she was accused of receiving $550,000 as a bribe from Maung Weik, a tycoon convicted of drug trafficking. Corruption cases comprise the biggest share of the many charges the military has brought against the 1991 Nobel Peace laureate. Suu Kyi has been charged with 12 counts in total under the Anti-Corruption Act, with each count punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a fine. Suu Kyi had already been sentenced to 23 years’ imprisonment after being convicted of illegally importing and possessing walkie-talkies, violating coronavirus restrictions, breaching the country’s official secrets act, sedition, election fraud and five corruption charges. Her supporters and independent analysts say the charges are politically motivated and an attempt to discredit her and legitimize the military’s seizure of power while keeping her from taking part in the next election, which the military has promised in 2023. In recent months, her trials have been held in a purpose-built courtroom in the main prison on the outskirts of the capital, Naypyitaw. She has not been seen or allowed to speak in public since she was arrested and her lawyers, who had been a source of information on the proceedings, have not been allowed to speak publicly on her behalf or about her trial since a gag order was placed on them last year. In the case decided Wednesday, Suu Kyi was accused of receiving a total of $550,000 in 2019 and 2020 from Maung Weik, with separate payments being treated as two offenses. Maung Weik, a construction magnate, had a close relationship with the army generals in power during a previous military-run government, and has headed two main companies during three decades in business: Maung Weik & Family Co. Ltd., specializing in the trading of metals and agricultural products, and Sae Paing Development Ltd., a real estate and construction company. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2008 for trafficking drugs but was released in 2014 under a semi-democratic transitional government led by former General Thein Sein. After his release from prison, Maung Weik returned to doing business with former generals and according to a 2017 report in The Irrawaddy, an online news magazine, became chairman of Mandalay Business Capital City Development, which was involved in urban development work. Under Suu Kyi’s government, Maung Weik won a major development project that included the construction of houses, restaurants, hospitals, economic zones, a port and hotel zones in Myanmar’s central Mandalay region. He was reportedly interrogated by the army two weeks after its takeover last year, and shortly after that, in March 2021, military-controlled state television broadcast a video in which he claimed to have given cash payoffs to government ministers to help his businesses. He said in his video that the money included $100,000 provided to Suu Kyi in 2018 for a charitable foundation named after her mother, and another $450,000 in payments in 2019 and 2020 for purposes he did not specify. A state-controlled newspaper, the Global New Light of Myanmar, reported in February that Suu Kyi in her position as state counselor — the country’s de facto chief executive — received $550,000 in four installments in 2019-2020 “to facilitate the business activities of a private entrepreneur.” Suu Kyi’s close colleague, Zaw Myint Maung, who served as a chief minister in the Mandalay region, was separately accused of receiving more than $180,000 from Maung Weik and was convicted of corruption in June. Wednesday’s verdict sentencing Suu Kyi to two three-year sentences to be served concurrently was conveyed by a legal official who insisted on anonymity for fear of being punished by the authorities. He added that her lawyers are expected to file an appeal in the coming days. In separate proceedings, Suu Kyi is still being tried together with the country’s former president, Win Myint, on another five corruption charges in connection with permits granted to a Cabinet minister for the rental and purchase of a helicopter. Suu Kyi has been the face of the opposition to military rule in Myanmar for more than three decades. The previous military government put her under house arrest in 1989, which continued on-and-off for 15 of the next 22 years. Her National League for Democracy party initially came to power after winning the 2015 general election, ushering in a true civilian government for the first time since a 1962 military coup. However, democratic reforms were small and slow in coming, largely because the military retained substantial power and influence under the terms of a constitution it had enacted in 2008. The National League for Democracy won a landslide victory again in the 2020 election, but its lawmakers were kept from taking their seats in Parliament by the army, which also arrested the party’s top leaders. The army said it acted because there had been massive voting fraud in the 2020 election, but independent election observers did not find any major irregularities. The 2021 takeover was met by nationwide peaceful protests that security forces quashed with deadly force, triggering fierce armed resistance that some U.N. experts now characterize as civil war. According to a detailed list compiled by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a watchdog group now based in Thailand, Myanmar security forces have killed at least 2,343 civilians and arrested 15,821.

Kurigram district jail authorities on Tuesday released five Indian nationals who had been jailed for illegally entering Bangladesh with drugs.  The five Indians are Alam Mia, son of Dudu Mia from Bengal's Cooch Behar district, Md Nuruzzaman, son of Surut Mia from Dhubri district in Assam, Selim Mia, son of Nur Islam from Mainkarchar, Jahangir Alam, son of Amirul Islam, and Maha Alam Sheikh, son of Sanowar Hossain, Md Ismail Hossain, Superintendent of Kurigram jail. Also read: Bangladeshi man shot dead by Indian Khashias; BSF hands over body However, two others -- Akbar Ali and Golzar Ali from Dhubri district -- will have to remain in prison as they didn't receive clearance from the Indian government though their jail term expired on February 1, 2022, he said. “At 7am, the five Indians were released from the jail and taken to the Burimari land port. There they will be handed to Border Security Force,” said Kurigram jail superintendent Ismail Hossain. The seven Indian citizens were arrested on charges of possession of drugs and illegal entry, he said. Also read:Illegal Indian products worth Tk 30cr seized in 10 months at Benapole border “Those who were released had to spend an extra six months in jail after serving their sentences, which is a serious violation of human rights," said advocate SM Ibrahim Lincoln, convener of Border Victim Rescue Legal Assistance Forum. "There are many like them in jails of both the countries. The Indian and Bangladeshi governments should take initiatives to return the inmates immediately after the end of their jail terms,” he added.

The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the time a prisoner spends in custody since arrest to judgment will be deducted from the period of imprisonment to which a convict is sentenced. The Ministry of Home Affairs was directed to make necessary arrangements in this regard. A bench of five justices led by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain passed the order during a virtual hearing on the appeal challenging the High Court’s order of imprisonment for life to a convict named Younus Ali. The court has ordered to send the order document to the home and law ministries and also directed to release Younus Ali after he served his jail term. Also read: HC turns down writ seeking enactment of law for EC formation Lawyer Golam Abbas Chowdhury Dulal appeared for Younus Ali while Deputy Attorney General Biswajit Debnath stood for the state. Lawyer Golam Abbas Chowdhury Dulal said his client has already spent 26 years behind the bars though according to the order of appellate division and the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) he should have been released by now. Deputy Attorney General Biswajit Debnath said Younus Ali was given life sentence in a case from the lower court which was later upheld by the High Court. According to section 35 A (1) of CrPC the time a convict passed in custody during the trial period of a case will be deducted from the sentence of imprisonment which was not mentioned in the sentence passed on the case of Younus Ali, said the deputy attorney general. Earlier, in the case of Ataur Rahman Mridha versus the state, the appellate division said life imprisonment means rigorous imprisonment for 30 years and a convict will get 7.5 years’ remission facility according to law. Also read: HC orders judicial probe into attacks on Hindus in 6 districts In 2017, in a notification issued by the High Court it was said that if multiple criminal cases are under trial against an accused, the time he/she spent in jail custody will be deducted from the total sentence of imprisonment in each case verdict. Though in most cases the direction is not implemented, said the DAG.

The High Court on Tuesday issued a rule asking the government to explain as to why the jail term of sacked mayor of Gazipur City Corporation (GCC) MA Mannan in a graft case should not be extended.