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October 17, 2004 

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5 lawyers sued in Kushtia
Five lawyers including the general secretary of Kushtia Bar Association have been sued for abusing a judge, ransacking a courtroom and threatening its staff with death. The accused lawyers are Advocate Zahurul Islam, general secretary of the bar, Saiful Islam Bappi, Wazedul Islam Chand, Subrata Kumar and Tarun Kumar Biswas.

Mehidi Hasan Sidique, bench assistant of the court, filed a case against the accused with Kushtia Police Station. He said in the case that some advocates led by Zahurul appealed to the Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal for bail of Siddiqur Rahman, an accused of rape.

As Judge Abul Hossain rejected the bail and left the courtroom, the lawyers reportedly having links with the ruling BNP abused him, ransacked furniture and beat up staff who tried to calm them. The lawyers also threatened to kill the staff, the complainant said. The Daily Star, October 12.

Ex-CJ, German envoy cross swords
Former chief justice Mustafa Kamal said France and Germany have 'no moral right' to discuss religious militancy in this region, prompting a war of words with German Ambassador in Dhaka Dietrich Andreas at a seminar.

Kamal made the remarks as the chair at a session of the seminar on "Religious Militancy and Security in South Asia" at Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (Biiss) auditorium. Andreas who was a participant in the session replied to a series of accusations against Germany and France made by the former chief justice. The four-day seminar is organised by Biiss in collaboration with the German and French embassies in Dhaka.

"I am not worried about inter-state relations in South Asia. I am more worried about the western perception of a rise in religious militancy in militarily weak countries like Bangladesh but not in big countries like India," Kamal said at the session on "Religious Militancy and Inter-State Relations in South Asia".

Responding to Kamal's remarks immediately, the German ambassador said, "We want to increase understanding and dialogue between cultures and countries ...We are always open to questions about the state of minorities in our society." The Daily Star, October 12.


Pro-govt lawyers blame SC Bar
Supreme Court Bar Association has no legal or constitutional mandate to discard the judicial probe report on the August 21 grenade attack on Awami League rally, said the pro-government lawyers at a press conference yesterday. Similarly, the association is not authorised to carry out another parallel investigation into the massacre, they said at the conference organised under the banner of Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Oikya Parishad.

The judicial inquiry committee was constituted under the law of the land and it acted like a civil court. There is no question to reject the report of this committee, said Advocate Mahbubur Rahman MP. Lawyers in general have not empowered the Bar association to accept or reject the commission report, he added.

The probe committee, formed by a section of lawyers in the name of the bar association, is motivated by a certain political party and has no legal basis, said Advocate Zainul Abedin, legal affairs secretary of the ruling BNP's central committee while reading out a written statement. The Daily Star, October 12.

Concern at torture in custody
Speakers at a seminar yesterday expressed grave concern at the torture in police custody and the death of arrestees in crossfire. They said only reform in judicial system could play the pivotal role in checking these events.

The seminar on 'Criminal responsibility for torture: South Asian perspective ' was organised by Odhikar, a human rights organisation, in the city. While speaking at the inaugural session, Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Moudud Ahmed and former Awami League law minister Abdul Matin Khasru were engaged in a debate on the death of arrested persons at Rab (Rapid Action Battalion) custody and torture of detainees at police custody.

Citing the examples of Ahsanullah Master killing and some bomb blast incidents, Khasru said the government issued press note even before the FIR (First Information Report) was lodged. Such kind of practice by the government leads the investigation to a wrong direction, he added.

The law minister said there should be separate body of police to investigate the cases.

Former chief justice K M Hasan said it would be pathetic if law-enforcing agencies engage themselves in torture in the name of justice.

Presided over by Odhikar President Tasneem Siddique, the inaugural session was also addressed by Dr Asif Nazrul of Dhaka University. The Daily Star, October 12.

Tougher anti-terrorism law if need
Prime Minister Khaleda Zia sought unwavering support of people for continuing present trend of success of her government in the next two years through more advances in poverty alleviation, improving quality of people's life and moving on with the campaign against terrorism. The Prime Minister urged the opposition to shun the politics of gambling and pursue the politics of ballots instead. Khaleda also cautioned that her government would not hold back from framing more stringent laws similar to that of other developed democratic countries of the world for eliminating terrorism and ensuring peace and security of public life.

The Prime Minister said the criminals responsible for the August 21 incident must be found out so that such incidents do not occur again. She said all possible measures have been taken by the government to track down the perpetrators. BSS October 11.

Activities of Rab will bring catastrophe
Rights groups accused the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) of violating the constitution, laws to deal with crimes and human rights through extra-judicial killings in custody and 'crossfire.' They also put forward a five-point demand to ensure trial of the killings by the law- enforcement agencies and put an end to their human-rights violation. At a press conference in Dhaka leaders of the organisations alleged the amendments to the Armed Police Battalion Ordinance 1979 created a scope for making political gains.

The amendments empowered Rab to conduct intelligence operations on crimes and incidents related to crimes and investigate any case when the government orders, the rights bodies said. But the amendments did not give the elite anticrime force authority to investigate any case; instead, the force is to probe only the government-assigned cases, they stressed. The groups include Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK), Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (Blast), Nijera Kori, Karmajibi Nari, Jatiya Ainjibi Parishad and Naripakkhya.

Rab is not only violating the constitution, Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and police ordinance but also human rights through extra-judicial killings either in custody or in 'crossfire' in most of the cases, the groups alleged. They also expressed concern at the killing of the innocent people like Mohammad Ali and Sumon Majumder. Prothom Alo October 14.









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