Latest news with #Dhaka
Al Jazeera
3 hours ago
- General
- Al Jazeera
Will Sheikh Hasina face justice in Bangladesh?
Fugitive and former Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina has officially been charged with crimes against humanity. Prosecutors in Dhaka accuse the 77-year-old of orchestrating a 'systematic attack' on demonstrators during protests last year that ended her 15-year rule. Bangladesh's interim leader Muhammad Yunus has promised to ensure that Hasina and other key figures face justice. But his caretaker government is facing discord over when it will hold elections. So will Sheikh Hasina face punishment, and will Bangladeshis forgive Muhammad Yunus if she does not? Presenter: Mohammed Jamjoom Guests: Rumeen Farhana – Assistant secretary for international affairs of the Central Executive Committee, and former Bangladesh Nationalist Party MP Sreeradha Datta – Professor at OP Jindal Global University Abbas Faiz – Independent South Asia researcher with a focus on Bangladesh
Telegraph
7 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Serpentine Pavilion 2025: This armadillo-like structure is a surprising wonder
It is 25 years since the late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid erected a white angular tent-like structure on a lawn beside the Serpentine Gallery, the first in an annual series of temporary pavilions in Kensington Gardens each designed to accommodate a summer-long programme of talks, parties, and events. Whether sleek or organic, elegant or madcap, these pleasure domes and places for debate are typically experimental and memorable, and, as well as marking the onset of the season, their unveiling elevates architecture to the thrust stage of national conversation. This year, it's the turn of the Bangladeshi architect Marina Tabassum, who delivers a pleasing pavilion with a calming, naturally illuminated interior, subtly evocative of a place of worship. Tabassum's practice has won plaudits for a beautifully stripped-back brick mosque in Dhaka, seemingly capturing and pooling light as if it were a liquid, and a design for a movable bamboo house on stilts inspired by the ephemeral architecture of the Ganges delta. Her alertness to transience is a rare quality among architects, who often yearn for permanence. Consisting of four curving wooden-and-polycarbonate structures – a pair of half-domes that bookend two tube-like, semi-circular tunnels (reminiscent of those industrial polytunnels in which, in sunnier climes, fruit and veg is grown) – her modular (and, apparently, 'kinetic') pavilion, tritely titled A Capsule in Time, appears, from afar, like the rounded carapace of a gigantic woodlouse – or a nutshell. It bulges beside the red-brick politeness of Serpentine South (itself, a pavilion, built as a teahouse in the 1930s). Thanks to its brown exterior (up close, the grain of its glue-laminated timber struts is visible), it doesn't clash with its natural surroundings – unlike the swollen neon-orange form, studded with plastic toy bricks, of a second pavilion, to be unveiled next week, designed by Peter Cook in partnership with Lego. This sympathetic effect is enhanced by the presence, at its centre, of a slender gingko tree, aligned with the gallery's bell tower. Yet, Tabassum's pavilion also has a futuristic feel (its polycarbonate facade catches daylight in an unpleasant, unnatural fashion; how long till those panels become streaky?), and a defensive, armoured quality, despite its openness: those four principal elements give the impression that something tightly closed and intricately secured has been unlocked and stretched out, even sectioned in the manner of a technical exploded-view diagram. With proportions that call to mind a facility in a military complex (a hangar in an airfield, perhaps?), it looks as if, were the sirens suddenly to go off, it could be snapped shut at the press of a button, to protect people sheltering inside. Initially, the interior's fuselage-like volume made me think of the cigar-shaped cargo compartment of a Hercules military aircraft. Other pavilions have been more graceful. Yet, inside, Tabassum's aptitude for working with light – that most elusive and insubstantial of architectural materials – becomes evident. The angled panels of the faceted canopy are translucent and variously coloured, with bands of mushroom, buff, and – towards the top – a radiant celadon; thus, soft lights, reminiscent of stained glass, are visible above head height, while, at the building's 25ft-high zenith, transparent panels allow visitors to behold the fluctuations of the sky. At either end, the glowing half-domes provide some muted spectacle. As well as offering a striking backdrop for talks, these enclosing, quasi-religious forms, again irradiated by washed-out light, should protect passers-by during the damper stretches of a British summer.
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Tulip Siddiq's aunt is charged with crimes against humanity in Bangladesh 'for her involvement in mass killings'
The aunt of Labour MP Tulip Siddiq has been charged with crimes against humanity for allegedly participating in mass killings during anti-government protests in Bangladesh. Arrest warrants have been issued for both the ousted Bangladeshi prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, and former interior minister Asaduzzaman Khan, who are understood to be in India. Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun, former police chief, has been arrested. It comes after Ms Hasina fled to India following student-led protests, which later became an anti-government uprising, saw the end of her 15-year rule in the South Asian state last August. According to the UN, as many as 1,400 people are believed to have been killed during protests last Summer after her Awami League government clamped down on marchers in Dhaka. Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) said the autocratic ruler 'directly' instructed state security forces, her party as well as its associates to implement actions that led to mass killings and injuries. They also allege such operations saw targeted violence against women and children, wounded being denied medical treatment, and bodies being burnt. In an investigative report last May, the 77-year-old was named as a 'mastermind, conductor and superior commander' of the brutalities against protesters. The authoritarian leader provoked violence during a press conference at Ganabhaban on July 14, according to charges. One of the charges says Ms Hasina reportedly ordered for protesters to be killed using, lethal weapons, helicopters, and drones. Another alleges under similar instructions, officers shot and burned six unarmed protesters in the Bangladeshi capital on August 5, 2024. Manynul Karim, the International Crimes Tribunal prosecutor, claimed to the Telegraph: 'Eyewitness testified that a young protester among them was burned alive after being shot and left wounded. He was still alive as the bodies burned.' The charges part of a wider probe against Ms Hasina, whose premiership saw allegations of election-rigging to maintain her grip on the state, as well as accusations of human rights violations. The alleged human rights violations facing the 77-year-old include torture, extensive arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial executions as well as enforced disappearances of adults and children. 'We have strong evidence, including telephonic conversations, that Hasina, under her superior command responsibility, ordered crimes against humanity, including murder of students,' Mr Karim told the publication. 'If proven guilty, she will face capital punishment. If she doesn't join the trial, it will be presumed that she is involved in the crimes against humanity, and the court might start a trial in absentia.' Ms Hasina has not yet answered the charges placed against her, but if found guilty she could face a death sentence for the alleged crimes. A diplomatic row is currently brewing between India and Bangladesh after India confirmed they had received communication regarding Ms Hasina's extradition but had declined to comment further. It comes after the country's Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has launched a larger probe into the reported illegal allocation of state-owned land and property by Ms Hasina to her children as well as family, which includes former Labour MP, Ms Siddiq. The investigation also involves claims Ms Siddiq and four family members embezzled £4 billion through a nuclear powerplant deal struck with Russia, Ms Siddiq resigned as City minister in January – after a corruption probe into her family had begun. Her family deny all the charges against them. Earlier this year, her lawyers sent a letter to the ACC accusing it of launching 'targeted and baseless' investigations into her, claiming the corruption allegations against their client are 'false and vexatious.' £90 million worth of properties tied to the ex Bangladeshi regime have since been frozen by the National Crime Agency (NCA) in the UK.
Russia Today
a day ago
- General
- Russia Today
Bangladesh's top court lifts ban on largest Muslim party
Bangladesh's top court on Sunday reversed a previous ruling that paves the way for Jamaat-e-Islami, an Islamist party that was banned by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government, to regain its status as a registered political party. The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court overturned a High Court judgment from 2013 that had declared Jamaat's registration as a political party illegal, local media reported, citing the order. The court also directed the election commission to officially reinstate the registration of Jamaat, thereby enabling it to contest elections, including at the national parliamentary level. Jamaat's registration was revoked through politically motivated public interest litigation, and Sunday's verdict has ensured that a multi-party democratic and participatory parliament is established, lawyers for the party were quoted as saying. The party was an active anti-liberation force during Bangladesh's 1971 Liberation War as a result of which the country gained independence from Pakistan. Its registration with the election commission was canceled in 2013, following a lengthy legal process. In August 2024, days before the Awami League government led by Hasina was ousted from power, it banned all activities by Jamaat and its student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir, under anti-terrorism laws. The Hasina government held Jamaat responsible for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity committed during the 1971 war, as per the verdicts of several cases delivered by the International Crimes Tribunal set up specifically to try those accused of war crimes. Days after taking power following Hasina's ouster, the interim government headed by Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, reversed the earlier decision and lifted the ban on the political activities of the party and affiliated organizations. Sunday's ruling by the Supreme Court comes amid ongoing political instability in Bangladesh, which, according to local media, stems from the reluctance of the Yunus administration to announce elections in the country. In a separate development, the same International Crimes Tribunal that earlier convicted Jamaat leaders issued arrest warrants on Sunday for former Prime Minister Hasina and ex-Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, accusing them of crimes against humanity in connection with their alleged involvement in suppressing a major uprising in July 2024. The tribunal's ruling has cleared the way for Hasina to stand trial. Dhaka previously sent a diplomatic note to New Delhi requesting Hasina's return to face trial, to which the Indian government has not formally responded so far.
Telegraph
a day ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Tulip Siddiq's aunt charged with crimes against humanity in Bangladesh
Sheikh Hasina, the ousted Bangladesh prime minister and the aunt of Labour MP Tulip Siddiq, has been charged with crimes against humanity for her alleged involvement in mass killings during anti-government protests. Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal has issued arrest warrants for Ms Hasina and Asaduzzaman Khan, the former interior minister, who are both believed to be in India. Former police chief, Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun, has been arrested. According to the charges, the autocratic former leader was directly responsible for ordering all state forces, her Awami League party and its associates to carry out actions that led to mass killings, injuries, targeted violence against women and children, the incineration of bodies and denial of medical treatment to the wounded. The charges describe 77-year-old Ms Hasina as the 'mastermind, conductor, and superior commander' of the atrocities. She has not yet responded to the charges. If proven guilty, she could face capital punishment. Ms Hasina fled to India in August last year as student-led protesters brought down her 15-year rule. Her premiership was marked by widespread accusations of election-rigging to maintain her hold on power and human rights violations such as extrajudicial killing, extensive arbitrary arrests, torture and enforced disappearances, including of children. The UN human rights office has estimated that up to 1,400 protesters may have been killed in Hasina's crackdown to crush the uprising. Bangladesh has demanded that India hands her over. Last year, India confirmed receiving a diplomatic communication for her extradition from Dhaka, but it has refused to comment further, triggering a diplomatic row between the two countries. The three-member tribunal, headed by Justice Mohammad Golam Mortuza Mozumder in a live trial proceedings, a first in Bangladesh, has ordered the prosecution to file a progress report on efforts to arrest Hasina and Asaduzzaman on June 16. According to the charges, Hasina incited violence during a press conference at Ganabhaban on July 14. Under her direction, law enforcement agencies carried out systematic and widespread attacks on protesters, Maynul Karim, the International Crimes Tribunal prosecutor, told The Telegraph. 'The attacks involved murder, attempted murder, torture, and other inhumane acts,' Mr Karim said. In one charge, Mr Karim said Hasina ordered the extermination of protesters using helicopters, drones, and lethal weapons, orders that Khan and Mamun allegedly executed by commanding security forces. Another charge states that, on Aug 5 last year, under similar orders, law enforcement officers shot six unarmed protesters and subsequently burned them in Dhaka's Ashulia area. Police poured petrol over the bodies and set them ablaze. 'Eyewitness testified that a young protester among them was burned alive after being shot and left wounded. He was still alive as the bodies burned,' Mr Karim claimed. The incident forms part of wider charges filed against Hasina. The charges stem from a May 12 investigative report that named her as the 'mastermind, conductor, and superior commander' behind the deadly attacks on protesters. 'We have strong evidence, including telephonic conversations, that Hasina, under her superior command responsibility, ordered crimes against humanity, including murder of students,' Mr Karim said. 'If proven guilty, she will face capital punishment. 'If she doesn't join the trial, it will be presumed that she is involved in the crimes against humanity, and the court might start a trial in absentia.' Bangladesh's Anti-Corruption Commission is holding a wider investigation into the alleged unlawful allocation of state-owned land and apartments to Ms Hasina, her children, and close relatives, including Ms Siddiq. The case also involves a $4 billion (£2.9 billion) embezzlement investigation by the commission into a nuclear deal struck by Ms Hasina, in which Ms Siddiq had also been named, with Russia. Ms Siddiq, who resigned from the UK Government in January amid scrutiny of her links to Ms Hasina, has been named in multiple Bangladeshi inquiries for illegally acquiring plots and apartments. She has denied the charges and accused the Bangladeshi government of a 'targeted and baseless' campaign against her and asked why it had briefed the media but not put its allegations to her directly. The UK's National Crime Authority has frozen £90 million worth properties linked to the former Bangladesh regime.
