United News of Bangladesh

The Awami League, whose activities as a political party remain banned in Bangladesh, on Friday held what observers billed as its first Central Working Committee meeting since being ousted from government through the July Uprising of 2024.  With most of the party’s top leaders having fled to India in the aftermath, Friday’s meeting was initially planned to be an in-person event, at the Indian Air Force safehouse on the outskirts of Delhi where party president Sheikh Hasina has been residing throughout this entire period. Those plans had to be shelved however, after word got out and the Indian government possibly intervened in the matter. Delhi has been increasingly receptive in recent times, to Dhaka’s more assertive stance on tying the scope of bilateral relations to the extent the Indian government allows Hasina to use Delhi as a base for carrying on her political work. And so in the event, the much touted meeting had to be held on a virtual platform.  The party’s Presidium member Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim presided over the meeting, which was moderated by the party’s Liberation War Affairs Secretary Mrinal Kanti Das. Hasina delivered the keynote address as chief guest. In her address, Sheikh Hasina said she had exchanged views with leaders and activists from 83 district AL units as well as 160 constituencies to assess the situation on the ground and get a sense of the organisational condition of the party. She also painted a picture of impending doom for the country, saying the situation was declining in every sector and calling for AL to “rescue” it, according to the party statement. Hasina instructed party leaders responsible for organisational affairs to give priority to those who had faced persecution when filling organisational vacancies. She also called for collecting and disseminating information about people who had allegedly faced oppression and persecution over the past two years, and also to expose those responsible. Hasina demanded the release of military and civil officials whom she described as having been arrested on false charges. Showing no intention of expressing any remorse, she referred to the violence during July and August 2024 and said law-enforcement personnel had made efforts to protect lives and property and alleged that many police officers were killed, their bodies burned, and police stations looted and set on fire. Her statement was indicative of her scorched earth view, with little room for reconciliation or making room for new actors on the political stage. She also said she wanted to return to Bangladesh and “save the country from this dire situation”, but alleged that the government in Dhaka was creating obstacles to her return.

Police have filed a case under the Anti-Terrorism Act against 25 named and 40-50 unnamed leaders and activists of the banned Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) over a procession brought out in Feni Sadar upazila. Three people, including two named accused, have been arrested in connection with the case filed on Saturday evening at Feni Model Police Station, said its Inspector (Investigation) Sajal Kanti Das. The arrestees are Nazmul Islam Shahin, 22, and Md Yasin Babu, 22, two named accused, and Shah Alam, 35. According to the first information report (FIR), leaders and activists of the banned BCL brought out a procession with banners and chanted slogans on Friday morning in the Dasher Pool area of Sadar upazila. Additional Superintendent of Police (Sadar Circle) Nishat Tabassum said drives were continuing to arrest the remaining accused.

Police arrested 13 leaders and activists of Awami League, which faces a ban on its activities, during a procession on the Dhaka-Aricha highway in Savar on Tuesday. According to police, around 35-40 leaders and activists of Awami League and its associate bodies, carrying banners and sticks, brought out a procession in the Bhanga Bridge area on the highway around 1:00pm when a routine police patrol spotted them. Police chased the group and managed to arrest 13 of them, while others escaped by swimming across a nearby water body, police said. Sub-Inspector Anwar Hossain of Savar Model Police Station said most of those arrested are residents of Savar municipality. The arrestees were identified as Sagar Molla, Mohammad Ali, Raju Ahmed, Olil Mia, Rajib Sarkar, Pradip Kundu, Shahid Hossain, Ratan Kumar Rajbanshi, Moksedur Rahman Sohag, Hridoy Hossain, Jibon Saha, Mokammel Hossain and Sajib Mia. Police said the former four work as drivers for rent-a-car service provider at Savar Bus Stand, while the remaining nine are leaders and activists of the Awami League and its associate organisations, said Inspector (Investigation) of Savar Model Police Station Nur Mohammad.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) has arrested 26 leaders and activists of Awami League( now facing ban on its activities)  and its affiliated organisations during separate drives across the capital. According to a DMP press release on Wednesday, they were arrested f over the past 24 hours through coordinated operations in different parts of Dhaka , said Niaz Mehedi, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Media and Public Relations Division of DMP. They were arrested aimed at maintaining public safety and law and order in the capital, it added. Such operations will continue to ensure stability in the city.

Former Narayanganj City Corporation (NCC) Mayor Dr Selina Hayat Ivy was released from jail on Wednesday night on bail. She walked out of Kashimpur Central Women's Jail in Gazipur around 10:10pm after all necessary legal formalities were completed. Shirin Akter, superintendent of the prison, said the release order reached the prison authorities and, following verification of the documents, Ivy was released on bail. She faces a total of 12 cases. No bar to Ivy's release as SC upholds HC bail in 10 cases On May 10 last, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court upheld the bail granted by the High Court to her in 10 cases. The High Court granted bail to Ivy in five of the cases on February 26 this year following separate bail petitions. The state filed petitions with the Appellate Division seeking stay on the High Court orders of bail. Following state’s petitions, the chamber judge of the Appellate Division on March 5 this year stayed the High Court orders and sent those petitions to the full bench for hearings. Of the cases, four are murder cases filed at Fatullah Police Station over the killings of bus driver Abul Hossain Mizi, Abdur Rahman, Md Yasin and Parvez during the July uprising. Another case was filed at Narayanganj Sadar Model Police Station on charges of assault and obstructing public servants. The former NCC mayor was shown arrested in the five cases on November 9 last year, when she secured HC bail in five additional cases. The state moved the Appellate Division against the HC orders when the chamber judge on November 12 stayed the bail and sent the matter to the regular bench for hearing. Meanwhile, the High Cour on April 30 granted bail to the former NCC mayor in two other murder cases linked to the July uprising. The cases were filed at Siddhirganj Police Station in Narayanganj on charges of killing Selim Mondal and Abdus Salam during the July 2024 uprising. Ivy was shown arrested in the cases on March 2 and April 12 this year. On May 17, the Chamber Court of the Appellate Division passed no order on the state's petitions challenging the High Court's bail order in the two cases, paving the way for her release. The former NCC mayor was picked up in the early hours of May 9 last year from her residence ‘Chunka Kutir’ in Narayanganj city’s Deobhog area and later shown arrested in multiple cases.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) arrested 32 people in the capital’s Dhanmondi and Sher-e-Bangla Nagar areas while they were allegedly preparing to bring out “flash processions” in support of political activities banned Awami League on Friday, police said. The arrests were made by Sher-e-Bangla Nagar and Dhanmondi police stations during separate drives in the early morning and after Jumu’ah prayers. Awami League activists stage sudden protest in Barishal According to Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station, a group of activists gathered in front of the Agargaon metro rail station near the Flower Market area around 5:45am on Friday, reportedly to organise a procession linked to a banned organisation. After receiving information a team rushed to the spot and detained six people as others attempted to flee, police said. The arrested six include Shyamal Chandra (27), president of Open University Dhaka metropolitan south Chhatra League, Aiyatul Haque (29), Siam (22), Mehedi Hasan Miad Khan (21), Tareq Rahman (22) and Selim Pradhan Srabon (20). In a separate drive, Dhanmondi police arrested 26 more people from around Dhanmondi 32 area after intelligence reports suggested that members of banned organisation Awami League were preparing for a sudden procession after Friday prayers. Police said legal action is being taken against all 32 arrestees and organisers involved in the attempted gatherings. Further details were not immediately available.

Police have arrested a local leader of Awami League from his residence in Kashiani upazila of Gopalganj district in a sabotage case early Thursday. The arrestee is Md Nayeb Ali Khan, 60, vice-president of Maheshpur union unit Awami League and son of Syed Ali Khan alias Ranga Khan. Based on secret information, police conducted a drive at his house at Baspur and arrested Nayeb Ali at the dead of night, said Mahfuzur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Kashiani Police Station. He was listed in a sabotage case filed over an incident on July 16, 2024, said the OC. On July 16, the supporters of Awami League and its associate bodies allegedly obstructed a programme of the National Citizen Party (NCP) by felling trees on the Dhaka-Khulna highway in the Majra area, creating panic and disrupting vehicular movement. The AL leader will be produced before the court.

The local office of the Bangladesh Awami League was reopened in Betagi Upazila of Barguna on Monday, around 18 months after its activities were declared banned. The office, located at Betagi Bazar, was unlocked around noon by leaders of the banned Bangladesh Chhatra League, witnesses said. The reopening was carried out under the supervision of former Chhatra League joint general secretary Asaduzzaman Nadim. RAB detains two JMB members in Borguna Photographs of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina were also displayed inside the office. Among those present were Betagi Upazila Chhatra League general secretary Sifat Sikder and former upazila general secretary Mostafa Jamal Shamim, along with a number of other leaders and activists. Eyewitnesses said leaders and activists of Jubo League and the banned Chhatra League gathered in front of the office and chanted slogans. Later, a banner reading “Reopening of Betagi Upazila Awami League office after 18 months” was hung inside and outside the office. U-16 Women’s Football: Borguna, Magura make good start No immediate reaction from the local administration was available in this regard.

Leaders and activists of the Awami League entered the party’s district and metropolitan office in Khulna on Sunday afternoon, placed wreaths on portraits of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Sheikh Hasina, hoisted the national flag and chanted slogans. The office, located in the Shankha Market area of the city, was visited around 4 pm. A video of the visit later circulated on social media. Later that night, the office was set on fire following protests against the Awami League leaders’ activities. Former leaders of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement led the protest. Wooden doors and documents were set ablaze, though the fire eventually extinguished. Members of the Fire Service arrived at the spot afterwards. Several Awami League activists, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the visit was not organised under any formal party directive. They said the office had been locked, which they broke open before hoisting the national flag and placing garlands on the portraits. ICT issues arrest warrants against Hasina, 5 others Eyewitnesses and local residents said 10-15 activists entered the office  by a procession in the afternoon, briefly paid tribute to the portraits and quickly left.   In protest, several students later entered the office and set fire to the portraits. Khulna Sadar Police Station Officer-in-Charge Md Kabir Hossain said a group of people had opened the Khulna district and metropolitan Awami League office in the afternoon. “After informing about it, we started collecting and reviewing CCTV footage from surrounding establishments to identify those involved,” he said. He added that later in the evening, some agitated students came and set fire to the office, damaging the two displayed portraits.

The International Crimes Tribunal-1 on Thursday issued warrants for the arrest of six people, including former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, in a case filed over ‘Jahaj Bari’ killings in the capital's Kalyanpur area. The three-member tribunal, led by its chairman Justice Md Golam Mortuza Majumder, passed the order after accepting the chargesheet in the case. The tribunal fixed February 8 for the next hearing. Court sets Feb 2 for verdict in Rajuk plot scam case against Hasina, Tulip Earlier in the day, the investigation agency of the International Crimes Tribunal-1 submitted the chargesheet against eight people in the case, said ICT prosecutor Gazi MH Tamim. Former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, former IGP AKM Shahidul Haque, former DMP commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia and former SB chief Monirul Islam were among the accused in the case. Of them, IGP AKM Shahidul Haque and DMP commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia were in jail in another case. The charges of crimes against humanity were brought against the accused in connection with the killing of nine people at a house named ‘Jahaj Bari’ in Kalyanpur on July 25, 2016. According to the prosecution, nine people were confined and later shot dead in the house in the name of an anti-militancy drive. The case was filed with the International Crimes Tribunal accusing the then authorities of carrying out extrajudicial killings. On March 24 last year, ICT-1 sent former IGP AKM Shahidul Haque, former DMP Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia, and former Deputy Commissioner of DMP’s Mirpur Division Mohammad Jasim Uddin Mollah to jail in connection with the case. Earlier, Chief Prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam told journalists that the tribunal’s investigation agency found that the nine youths had been arrested from different parts of the country well before the incident. Verdict in Rajuk plot scam case against Hasina, Tulip on Feb 2 Some of them were allegedly held in Detective Branch custody for two to three months. Investigators claim the victims were later brought together at the Kallyanpur house, where senior police officials arrived on the night of the incident under the pretext of a ‘block raid’. After they were shot dead, the incident was publicly described as a successful militant killing operation, he said.