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Tulip Siddiq's aunt is charged with crimes against humanity in Bangladesh 'for her involvement in mass killings'
Tulip Siddiq's aunt is charged with crimes against humanity in Bangladesh 'for her involvement in mass killings'

Daily Mail​

time03-06-2025

  • 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.

Trump's image of dead 'white farmers' came from Reuters footage in Congo, not South Africa
Trump's image of dead 'white farmers' came from Reuters footage in Congo, not South Africa

CNA

time23-05-2025

  • Politics
  • CNA

Trump's image of dead 'white farmers' came from Reuters footage in Congo, not South Africa

JOHANNESBURG: US President Donald Trump showed a screenshot of Reuters video taken in the Democratic Republic of Congo as part of what he falsely presented on Wednesday (May 21) as evidence of mass killings of white South Africans. "These are all white farmers that are being buried," said Trump, holding up a print-out of an article accompanied by the picture during a contentious Oval Office meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. In fact, the video published by Reuters on Feb 3 and subsequently verified by the new agency's fact check team, showed humanitarian workers lifting body bags in the Congolese city of Goma. The image was pulled from Reuters footage shot following deadly battles with Rwanda-backed M23 rebels. The blog post showed to Ramaphosa by Trump during the White House meeting was published by American Thinker, a conservative online magazine, about conflict and racial tensions in South Africa and Congo. The post did not caption the image but identified it as a "YouTube screen grab" with a link to a video news report about Congo on YouTube, which credited Reuters. The White House did not respond to a request for comment. Andrea Widburg, managing editor at American Thinker and the author of the post in question, wrote in reply to a Reuters query that Trump had "misidentified the image". She added, however, that the post, which referred to what it called Ramaphosa's "dysfunctional, race-obsessed Marxist government", had "pointed out the increasing pressure placed on white South Africans". The footage from which the picture was taken shows a mass burial following an M23 assault on Goma, filmed by Reuters video journalist Djaffar Al Katanty. "That day, it was extremely difficult for journalists to get in ... I had to negotiate directly with M23 and coordinate with the ICRC to be allowed to film," Al Katanty said. "Only Reuters has video." Al Katanty said seeing Trump holding the article with the screengrab of his video came as a shock. "In view of all the world, President Trump used my image, used what I filmed in DRC to try to convince President Ramaphosa that in his country, white people are being killed by black people," Al Katanty said. Ramaphosa visited Washington this week to try to mend ties with the United States after persistent criticism from Trump in recent months over South Africa's land laws, foreign policy, and alleged bad treatment of its white minority, which South Africa denies. Trump interrupted the televised meeting with Ramaphosa to play a video, which he said showed evidence of genocide of white farmers in South Africa. This conspiracy theory, which has circulated in far-right chat rooms for years, is based on false claims. Trump then proceeded to flip through printed copies of articles that he said detailed murders of white South Africans, saying "death, death, death, horrible death".

Trump's image of dead ‘white farmers' came from Reuters footage in Congo, not South Africa
Trump's image of dead ‘white farmers' came from Reuters footage in Congo, not South Africa

Arab News

time23-05-2025

  • Politics
  • Arab News

Trump's image of dead ‘white farmers' came from Reuters footage in Congo, not South Africa

JOHANNESBURG: US President Donald Trump showed a screenshot of Reuters video taken in the Democratic Republic of Congo as part of what he falsely presented on Wednesday as evidence of mass killings of white South Africans. 'These are all white farmers that are being buried,' said Trump, holding up a print-out of an article accompanied by the picture during a contentious Oval Office meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. In fact, the video, published by Reuters on February 3 and subsequently verified by the news agency's fact check team, showed humanitarian workers lifting body bags in the Congolese city of Goma. The image was pulled from Reuters footage shot following deadly battles with Rwanda-backed M23 rebels. The blog post showed to Ramaphosa by Trump during the White House meeting was published by American Thinker, a conservative online magazine, about conflict and racial tensions in South Africa and Congo. The post did not caption the image but identified it as a 'YouTube screen grab' with a link to a video news report about Congo on YouTube, which credited Reuters. The White House did not respond to a request for comment. Andrea Widburg, managing editor at American Thinker and the author of the post in question, wrote in reply to a Reuters query that Trump had 'misidentified the image.' She added, however, that the post, which referred to what it called Ramaphosa's 'dysfunctional, race-obsessed Marxist government,' had 'pointed out the increasing pressure placed on white South Africans.' The footage from which the picture was taken shows a mass burial following an M23 assault on Goma, filmed by Reuters video journalist Djaffar Al Katanty. 'That day, it was extremely difficult for journalists to get in ... I had to negotiate directly with M23 and coordinate with the ICRC to be allowed to film,' Al Katanty said. 'Only Reuters has video.' Al Katanty said seeing Trump holding the article with the screengrab of his video came as a shock. 'In view of all the world, President Trump used my image, used what I filmed in DRC to try to convince President Ramaphosa that in his country, white people are being killed by Black people,' Al Katanty said. Ramaphosa visited Washington this week to try to mend ties with the United States after persistent criticism from Trump in recent months over South Africa's land laws, foreign policy, and alleged bad treatment of its white minority, which South Africa denies. Trump interrupted the televised meeting with Ramaphosa to play a video, which he said showed evidence of genocide of white farmers in South Africa. This conspiracy theory, which has circulated in far-right chat rooms for years, is based on false claims. Trump then proceeded to flip through printed copies of articles that he said detailed murders of white South Africans, saying 'death, death, death, horrible death.'

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