Law
week
Trial of Ctg arms haul case begins
Trial of the sensational Chittagong Arms case began at the Chittagong Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court. The first investigating officer (IO) of the case Ahadur Rahman, also the then Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Karnaphuli Police Station, gave his deposition before Judge Anwar Hossain.
During the hearing, nine pieces of firearms and ammunitions, each of the items of the arms recovered on April 2 last year, were produced as the evidence before the court for the first time.
Members of Bangladesh Army, the present custodian of the recovered arms, produced the evidence before the court. Thirty of the 43 accused were present during the hearing. Twelve of them sought bail but the court granted bail to five -- Bazal Ahmad, Akber Ali, Dilder Hossain, Sanowar Hossain and Ezhar Mia. Nineteen of the accused, including the five, are now on bail while 12 are in custody. The court fixed August 7 for the next hearing. -- The Daily Star, July 7.
Arrest warrant against 2 editors for running story on Pintu
A Dhaka court issued arrest warrant against editors of two Bangla national dailies minutes into a ruling BNP lawmaker filed two separate defamation cases against the newspapers for publishing reports that linked him and his family members with the Jubo Dal leader Sagir Ahmed killing.
Nasiruddin Ahmed Pintu, lawmaker from Dhaka-8 constituency, filed the cases against five persons including the editors and publishers of Prothom Alo and Janakantha.
Besides issuing bailable warrant of arrest against Prothom Alo Editor Motiur Rahman and Janakantha Editor and Publisher Mohammad Atiq Ullah Khan Masud, Metropolitan Magistrate AJM Abdullahel Baki issued summons upon Prothom Alo Publisher Mahfuz Anam and Janakantha Advisory Editor Toab Khan and Executive Editor Borhan Ahmed.
Accompanied by a few hundred of his supporters, Pintu went to the courthouse in a procession and filed a case against the editor and publisher of Prothom Alo and another against the rest three. Although there is prohibition imposed by the High Court on processions and rallies on the court premises, they entered the court area in procession, halting court proceedings for about an hour. -- Prothom Alo, July 8.
Vested quarter harasses ASK for anti-Rab stance
After threatening Sultana Kamal, executive director of Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), over telephone for questioning the Rapid Action Battalion's "extra-judicial killings", a vested quarter is now propagating against the organisation by putting up posters at different parts of the city.
These posters, displayed mainly in the city's Central Road and the press club areas, criticise the ASK and human rights activists for objecting to the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) drives against criminals.
"Where were they [ASK and human rights activists] when people died, were raped and mutilated by terrorists?" the posters read. Terming the human rights activists "danobadhikari" (monsters), the posters say, "If supporting the rapists, murderers and extortionists is manobadhikar [human rights], then we say 'no' to it."
Earlier the ASK held the publication ceremony of a book titled "Rab: Curbing Terrorism or State-run Terrorism. The ASK book is mainly a compilation of articles by different persons expressing concern over the "extra-judicial killings" by the Rab. The book also contains investigative reports, newspaper clippings and statistics of the number of the extra-judicial killings by the Rab. -- The Daily Star, July 8.
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