Latest news with #crimesAgainstHumanity
Al Jazeera
4 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
Arab News
13 hours ago
- General
- Arab News
Syrian pro-Assad fighter jailed for life in Germany for crimes against humanity
BERLIN: A German court on Tuesday convicted a Syrian man of crimes against humanity and jailed him for life over offenses committed during his time fighting for former President Bashar Assad. The court in the city of Stuttgart found the former militiaman guilty of crimes including murder and torture after a trial which involved testimony from 30 witnesses. Shortly after the outbreak of anti-Assad protests in early 2011, the man joined a pro-government Shia militia in the southern town of Bosra Al-Sham. He proceeded to take part in several crimes against the local Sunni population with the aim of 'terrorizing' them and driving them from the town, the court found. German authorities have pursued several suspects for crimes committed in Syria's civil war under the principle of universal jurisdiction, even after Assad's ouster last December. In 2022, former Syrian colonel Anwar Raslan was found guilty of overseeing the murders of 27 people and the torture of 4,000 others at the notorious Al-Khatib jail in 2011 and 2012. That was the first international trial over state-sponsored torture in Syrian prisons and was hailed as 'historic' by human rights activists.
News.com.au
2 days ago
- General
- News.com.au
Bangladesh ex-PM accused of 'systematic attack' in deadly protest crackdown
Fugitive former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina orchestrated a "systematic attack" that amounted to crimes against humanity in her attempt to crush the uprising that toppled her government, Bangladeshi prosecutors said at the opening of her trial on Sunday. Up to 1,400 people were killed between July and August 2024 after Hasina's government launched its crackdown, according to the United Nations. Hasina, 77, fled by helicopter to her old ally India as the student-led uprising ended her 15-year rule and she has defied an extradition order to return to Dhaka. Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) is prosecuting former senior figures connected to Hasina's ousted government and her now-banned party, the Awami League. "Upon scrutinising the evidence, we reached the conclusion that it was a coordinated, widespread and systematic attack," ICT chief prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam told the court in his opening speech. "The accused unleashed all law enforcement agencies and her armed party members to crush the uprising." Islam lodged five charges each against Hasina and two other officials that included "abetment, incitement, complicity, facilitation, conspiracy, and failure to prevent mass murder during the July uprising". Prosecutors say such acts are tantamount to "crimes against humanity". - 'Not an act of vendetta' - Hasina, who remains in self-imposed exile in India, has rejected the charges as politically motivated. As well as Hasina, the case includes ex-police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun -- who is in custody but did not appear in court on Sunday -- and former interior minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, who is also on the run. The prosecution of senior figures from Hasina's government is a key demand of several of the political parties now jostling for power. The interim government has vowed to hold elections before June 2026. The hearing is being broadcast live on state-owned Bangladesh Television. Prosecutor Islam vowed that the trial would be impartial. "This is not an act of vendetta but a commitment to the principle that, in a democratic country, there is no room for crimes against humanity," he said. Investigators have collected video footage, audio clips, Hasina's phone conversations and records of helicopter and drone movements, as well as statements from victims of the crackdown, as part of their probe. The prosecution argues that Hasina ordered security forces, through directives from the interior ministry and police, to crush the protesters. "They systematically committed murder, attempted murder, torture, and other inhuman acts," Islam said. Prosecutors also allege that security forces opened fire from helicopters after Hasina's directives. They also accused Hasina of ordering the killing of student protester Abu Sayeed, who was shot dead at close range in the northern city of Rangpur on July 16. He was the first student demonstrator killed in the police crackdown on protests and footage of his last moments was shown repeatedly on Bangladeshi television after Hasina's downfall. The ICT court opened its first trial connected to Hasina's government on May 25. In that case, eight police officials face charges of crimes against humanity over the killing of six protesters on August 5, the day that Hasina fled the country. Four of the officers are in custody and four are being tried in absentia. The ICT was set up by Hasina in 2009 to investigate crimes committed by the Pakistani army during Bangladesh's war for independence in 1971. It sentenced numerous prominent political opponents to death and became widely seen as a means for Hasina to eliminate rivals. Separately on Sunday, the Supreme Court restored the registration of Bangladesh's largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, allowing it to take part in elections. Hasina had banned Jamaat-e-Islami and cracked down on its leaders. Bangladesh's interim government banned the Awami League in May, pending the outcome of her trial, and those of other party leaders. sa/pjm/pbt
Malay Mail
2 days ago
- General
- Malay Mail
Bangladesh's fugitive ex-PM Hasina accused of ‘crimes against humanity' in protest crackdown trial
DHAKA, June 2 — Fugitive former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina orchestrated a 'systematic attack' that amounted to crimes against humanity in her attempt to crush the uprising that toppled her government, Bangladeshi prosecutors said at the opening of her trial on Sunday. Up to 1,400 people were killed between July and August 2024 after Hasina's government launched its crackdown, according to the United Nations. Hasina, 77, fled by helicopter to her old ally India as the student-led uprising ended her 15-year rule and she has defied an extradition order to return to Dhaka. Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) is prosecuting former senior figures connected to Hasina's ousted government and her now-banned party, the Awami League. 'Upon scrutinising the evidence, we reached the conclusion that it was a coordinated, widespread and systematic attack,' ICT chief prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam told the court in his opening speech. 'The accused unleashed all law enforcement agencies and her armed party members to crush the uprising.' Islam lodged five charges each against Hasina and two other officials that included 'abetment, incitement, complicity, facilitation, conspiracy, and failure to prevent mass murder during the July uprising'. Prosecutors say such acts are tantamount to 'crimes against humanity'. 'Not an act of vendetta' Hasina, who remains in self-imposed exile in India, has rejected the charges as politically motivated. As well as Hasina, the case includes ex-police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun — who is in custody but did not appear in court on Sunday — and former interior minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, who is also on the run. The prosecution of senior figures from Hasina's government is a key demand of several of the political parties now jostling for power. The interim government has vowed to hold elections before June 2026. The hearing is being broadcast live on state-owned Bangladesh Television. Prosecutor Islam vowed that the trial would be impartial. 'This is not an act of vendetta but a commitment to the principle that, in a democratic country, there is no room for crimes against humanity,' he said. Investigators have collected video footage, audio clips, Hasina's phone conversations and records of helicopter and drone movements, as well as statements from victims of the crackdown, as part of their probe. The prosecution argues that Hasina ordered security forces, through directives from the interior ministry and police, to crush the protesters. 'They systematically committed murder, attempted murder, torture, and other inhuman acts,' Islam said. Prosecutors also allege that security forces opened fire from helicopters after Hasina's directives. They also accused Hasina of ordering the killing of student protester Abu Sayeed, who was shot dead at close range in the northern city of Rangpur on July 16. He was the first student demonstrator killed in the police crackdown on protests and footage of his last moments was shown repeatedly on Bangladeshi television after Hasina's downfall. The ICT court opened its first trial connected to Hasina's government on May 25. In that case, eight police officials face charges of crimes against humanity over the killing of six protesters on August 5, the day that Hasina fled the country. Four of the officers are in custody and four are being tried in absentia. The ICT was set up by Hasina in 2009 to investigate crimes committed by the Pakistani army during Bangladesh's war for independence in 1971. It sentenced numerous prominent political opponents to death and became widely seen as a means for Hasina to eliminate rivals. Separately on Sunday, the Supreme Court restored the registration of Bangladesh's largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, allowing it to take part in elections. Hasina had banned Jamaat-e-Islami and cracked down on its leaders. Bangladesh's interim government banned the Awami League in May, pending the outcome of her trial, and those of other party leaders. — AFP
South China Morning Post
2 days ago
- General
- South China Morning Post
Can Rodrigo Duterte serve as Davao mayor from ICC detention?
Advertisement The post he won is no ordinary local office. It is the mayorship of Davao City, the southern Philippine metropolis that has long served as the Duterte family's political stronghold – a position he held for more than two decades before ascending to the presidency in 2016. But despite his electoral triumph, Duterte's return to Davao's city hall remains far from certain. His victory in May's midterm election has triggered a surreal legal and diplomatic conundrum in the Philippines: can a man imprisoned in an international detention facility legally assume the office of mayor? The International Criminal Court in The Hague, where Duterte is set to be tried for crimes against humanity. Photo: AP A legal impossibility? The answer to the quandary, according to legal experts, is almost certainly no.
